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LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS 

FROM THE 

HOUSE OF ALCOTT 




Orchard House, the Alcott Homestead. 



Frontispiece. 



LITTLE WOMEN 
LETTERS 



FROM THE 



HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

SELECTED BY 

JESSIE BONSTELLE 

AND 

MARIAN DEFOREST 




BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1914 






Copyright, igi4. 
By John S. P. Alcott. 



All 7-ights reserved 
Published, September, 19 14 



Set up and electrotyped by J . S. Gushing Co., Norwood , Mass. , U. S.A. 
Pressworkby S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



SEP 23 1914 

(DGi,A;J805 31 



FOREWORD 

Next to the joy of giving to the Alcott- 
loving pubHc " Little Women " as a play, 
is the privilege and pleasure of offering 
this book of letters, revealing the child- 
hood and home life of the beloved Little 
Women. 

May they bring help and happiness to 
many mothers and inspiration and love 
to many children. 



[v] 



CONTENTS 



I. 


The "Really, Truly" True 


I 


11. 


The Alcott Boy; The Alcott 






Man 


10 


III. 


The Alcott Children . 


28 


IV. 


The Alcott Baby Book 


39 


V. 


Letters and Conversations with 






Children .... 


59 


VI. 


The Mother's Influence . 


98 


VII. 


Children's Diaries 


122 


VIII. 


Girlhood and Womanhood . 


140 


IX. 


Friendships and Beliefs 


162 




Chronology 


19s 



Ivli] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Orchard House, the Alcott Homestead 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

A. Bronson Alcott at the age of 53, from 

the portrait by Mrs. Hildreth . 54 

Facsimile of Mr. Alcott's Letter to 

Louisa, Nov. 29, 1839 ... 82 

Facsimile of Mr. Alcott's Letter to 

Louisa, June 21, 1840 ... 86 

Facsimile of Mr. Alcott's Letter to 

Elizabeth, 1840 .... 92 

Abigail May, Mrs. A. Bronson Alcott, 

from a Daguerreotype . . 106 

Anna Bronson Alcott, from a Daguerre- 
otype . . . . . .122 

Abba May Alcott, from a Photograph . 142 

Louisa May Alcott, from a Daguerre- 
otype 160 



[ix] 



LITTLE WOMEN 

LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE 

OF ALCOTT 

CHAPTER I 
The "Really, Truly" True 

WHEN " Little Women," the play, 
reopened to many readers the 
pages of ''Little Women," the 
book, that delightful chronicle of family 
life, dramatist and producer learned from 
many unconscious sources the depth of 
Louisa M. Alcott's human appeal. Stand- 
ing one night at the back of the theater 
as the audience was dispersing, they lis- 
tened to its comments on the play. 

"A wonderful picture of home life, 
[I] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

only we don't have such homes," said 
a big, prosperous-looking man to his 
wife, with a touch of regret in his voice. 

"Yes," agreed his young daughter, a 
tall, slender, graceful girl, as she snuggled 
down cosily into her fur coat and tucked 
a bunch of violets away from the touch 
of the frosty night, "it is beautiful; 
but, daddy, it isn't real. There never 
was such a family." 

But it is real ; there was such a family, 
and in letters, journals, and illustration 
this little book gives the history of the 
four Little Women, the Alcott girls, 
whom Louisa immortalized in her great- 
est story: Anna, who is Meg in "Little 
Women" ; Louisa, the irrepressible and 
ambitious Jo ; Elizabeth, the little Beth 

[2] 



THE "really, truly" TRUE 

of the book ; and Abba May, the grace- 
ful and statuesque Amy. 

Rare influences were at work In this 
ideal American home, where the intel- 
lectual and brilliant father was gifted 
in all ways except those that led to 
material success, and the wise and gentle 
mother combined with her loyalty and 
devotion to her husband a stanch, 
practical common sense, which more 
than once served to guide the frail 
Alcott bark through troubled seas. 

Following her remarkable success as 
a writer of short stories, Louisa M. 
Alcott was asked for a book. She said 
at first it was impossible, but repeated 
requests from her publishers brought 
from her the announcement that the 
[3] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

only long story she could write would be 
about her own family. "Little Women" 
resulted, and, in erecting this House of 
Delight for young and old, Louisa Alcott 
builded better than she knew. Her Jo 
has been the inspiration of countless 
girls, and the many-sidedness of her 
character is indicated by the widely 
diverging lines of endeavor which Jo's 
example has suggested to the girl readers 
of the story. 

In the case of the two editors, both 
from early childhood found their inspi- 
ration in Jo. One, patterning after her 
idol, sought success in a stage career, 
beginning to "act" before a mirror, 
with a kitchen apron for a train and a 

buttonhook for a dagger. The other, 
l4l 



THE "really, truly" TRUE 

always with a pencil in hand, first copied 
Jo by writing "lurid tales" for the weekly 
sensation papers, and later emerged into 
Newspaper Row. 

It was more than a year after the 
success of *' Little Women" as a play 
had become a part of theatrical history 
that they visited the scenes hallowed 
by the memories of the Little Women. 
They wished to see Concord together, 
so they made a Sentimental Journey to 
the House of Alcott. 

The sun was shining, and the air was 

crisp — just such a day as Miss Alcott 

described in the Plumfield harvest home, 

the last chapter in "Little Women." 

They spent hours in Orchard House, 

touching reverently the small personal 
(5] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

effects of Louisa M. Alcott, seeing the 
shelf between the windows in that 
little upper room, where she wrote and 
dreamed. They even climbed to the 
garret and wondered which window was 
her favorite scribbling seat, with a tin 
kitchen for her manuscripts, a pile of 
apples for her refreshment, and Scrabble, 
the bewhiskered rat, for her playfellow. 
Through the woods back of Orchard 
House they followed the winding path- 
way to the Hall of Philosophy, half 
hidden among the trees, where Bronson 
Alcott had his Conversations, where 
Emerson and Thoreau were often heard, 
and the most intellectual debates of the 
century took place. 

At sunset they visited Sleepy Hollow, 
[6] 



THE "REALLY, TRULY TRUE 

the resting place of the Alcotts, with 
Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne close 
by — a goodly company, neighbors still 
as they were for so many years when 
they made Concord America's literary 
shrine. 

Evening came, and the two pilgrims 
read together the Alcott journals and 
letters. The ink was faded, the quaint, 
old-fashioned writing was hard to deci- 
pher, but, beginning with a letter to 
Louisa written by Bronson Alcott when 
his daughter was seven years old, they 
read on until the dawn. 

Only one result could be expected 

from such an experience. They asked 

permission to publish the letters and 

such portions of the journals as would 
[7] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

most completely reveal the rare spiritual 
companionship existing between the 
Alcott parents and children. And, ask- 
ing, they were refused, because of a 
feeling that the letters and journals were 
intimate family records, to be read, not 
by the many, but by the few. This 
same sentiment withheld the dramati- 
zation of "Little Women*' for many 
years. 

"You forget," they argued, holding 
fast to the dimly written pages, "that 
Bronson Alcott and Louisa Alcott are 
a part of America's literary heritage. 
They belong to the nation, to the world, 
not alone to you." 

This course of reasoning finally pre- 
vailed, but not without many months of 
[8] 



THE REALLY, TRULY TRUE 

waiting. And thus, with the consent of 
the Alcott heirs, the book of "Little 
Women Letters from the House of 
Alcott" came to be. 



9] 



CHAPTER II 

I 

The Alcott Boy 

ONCE upon a time in the little 
town of Wolcott, Connecticut, 
was born a boy destined to offer 
to the world new and beautiful thoughts. 
He was laughed at and misunderstood ; 
but the thoughts were truth, and they 
have lived, although the boy grew weary 
and old and passed on. 

The boy was Amos Bronson Alcott. 
He was a country lad, used from infancy 
to the rugged life of the farm, with its 
self-denial and makeshifts. The seem- 

[lO] 



THE ALCOTT BOY 



ing disadvantage, however, proved quite 
the opposite. His close communion with 
Nature brought him nearer to the truths 
of Hfe. For him God ceased to be a 
mythical object to be studied and read 
about on Sunday ; but, as he roamed 
the fields and climbed the hills, the lad 
found Him in the rocks and the wood- 
lands, and in the sparkling streams. He 
became a reality. The boy and God 
were friends. 

Of schooling he had little. When 
work at the farm permitted, he attended 
the country school near his father's house. 
*'Our copies," he told his little daughters, 
"were set by the schoolmaster in books 
made of a few sheets of foolscap, stitched 
together and ruled with a leather plum- 



[II] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

met. We used ink made of maple and 
oak bark, which we manufactured our- 
selves. With this I began keeping a 
diary of my doings." 

This was when the boy was twelve. 
His hours at school were few, but as he 
went about his daily tasks on the farm, 
his thoughts grew and grew until his 
mental stature far exceeded his physical. 
He read as he guided the plow along 
the furrow, sometimes unmindful of his 
work until a sudden punch from a neg- 
lected handle, as the plow struck a 
stone, would bring him back to earth with 
a thump. He sowed seeds in the moist, 
sweet earth, but his face was turned to 
the skies, and he knew the clouds and 
the stars. When he gathered firewood, 

[12] 



THE ALCOTT BOY 



his eyes were keen for the soft, dainty 
mosses, the cHnging hchens. As he 
picked berries for the home table, he 
never missed the whirr of a bird wing 
or passed unnoticed the modest flowers 
half hidden in the soil. Nature was his 
library, and she spread out her choicest 
treasures to this growing boy. 
' A love for all of God's creations char- 
acterized him. He was fond, not only 
of the growing things in the wood, but of 
all life. His love for animals amounted 
almost to a passion, one reason for his 
being a strict vegetarian and insisting 
upon bringing up his little family on a 
vegetable diet. But in boyhood it was 
not always clear whether humanity or 
the craving for knowledge made him so 



[13] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

considerate of the plodding team in the 
field. Never was team more carefully 
tended. Many were its hours of graz- 
ing, when the noonday sun rode high 
in the heavens, and the Alcott boy, 
book in hand, curled up under the shade 
of a gigantic elm and read until the 
shadows began to lengthen. But these 
lapses were only occasional, for the 
lad was faithful to his tasks, except 
when he yielded to the lure of the 
printed page. 

When scarcely more than a child he 
began to keep a record of his books and 
his reading, showing the first traces of 
the reflective, introspective quality of 
mind which later led him to set down 
in letters and unpublished manuscripts 
[14] 



THE ALCOTT BOY 



his inmost thoughts. He cultivated the 
same habits of thought in his children, 
one reason, doubtless, for Louisa's ac- 
curate and realistic descriptions of the 
lives of the four Little Women of the 
Alcott family. 

His favorite books in boyhood, and, 
for that matter, in manhood, were the 
Bible and Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," 
which he read and reread and com- 
mented upon. Years later he mentions 
in his journal that he made it a practice 
to read "Pilgrim's Progress" every year, 
which is a remarkable record to the 
modern boy and girl who find it difficult 
to struggle through that wonderful alle- 
gory even once. 

Bronson Alcott took his chance and 

[IS] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



made a stepping-stone of every difficulty. 
Each obstacle he encountered in getting 
an education created in him an even 
stronger determination to gain one. The 
modern boy has the world of books 
opened wide to him through the library 
and the free school. The treasures of 
art are spread out before him in the 
museums. He is surrounded by helps. 
The boy of to-day is studied as an entity. 
The boy of the last century could tell 
quite a different story. 

So the Alcott boy, passing long hours 
in the woods, reading, thinking, getting 
close to Nature and to God, walked as 
one apart, seeing the invisible. While 
still a boy, he began casting off the gar- 
ment of a conventional creed and to 
[i6] 



THE ALCOTT BOY 



think for himself of God, the creation, of 
life, unconsciously putting from him the 
trammeling, cumbersome conventions 
with which man has often hidden truth. 
Out of this the man Alcott emerged 
— a great soul. 



[17] 



II 

The Alcott Man 

With Bronson Alcott the craving for 
knowledge was scarcely stronger than the , 
craving for adventure, so it is not surpris- 
ing that in the first flush of young man- 
hood he did not settle down to life on 
the farm. He longed for the great world 
lying beyond the hills and valleys of 
peaceful New England. He wanted 
experience, and experience he had. 

He went South, hoping to teach school, 
as he had original ideas on the training 
of children. Unsuccessful in this, he 
decided to be a peddler, naively remark- 
ing that "honesty of purpose could dig- 
nify any profession." 
[i81 



THE ALCOTT MAN 



Think of the courage of this boy, for 
he was scarcely more than a boy, a phi- 
losopher at heart, living in a world of 
dreams and books, his ambitions all for 
intellectual rather than material achieve- 
ment, tramping the southern country- 
side, undauntedly peddling buttons, 
elastic, pins and needles, and supplying 
all the small wants of the country house- 
wife ! Often he encountered rebuffs, 
sometimes he had a hearty welcome, for 
the visit of the country peddler was 
eagerly awaited by the children. At 
times, when night came and he was far 
from the shelter of an inn, he had to beg 
a lodging from some planter. On one 
such occasion, as he entered the grounds, 
he saw a huge sign, "Beware the dog." 
[19I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

A shout from the house also warned him, 
and he saw dashing toward him a savage- 
looking dog, powerful enough to have 
torn to pieces the slender young peddler- 
student. But his love for animals tri- 
umphed. Alcott stretched out his hand. 
The huge creature stopped short ; then, 
recognizing a friend and a fearless one, 
he bounded on, tail wagging, barking 
joyously, snuggling his nose into the 
young man's palm, which he licked as 
he escorted his new-found friend to the 
house. Animals always recognized in 
Alcott an understanding comrade. 

From most of these trips Alcott 
brought back money to add to the 
scanty funds at home, but on one mem- 
orable occasion the love of finery proved 

f20l 



THE ALCOTT MAN 



Stronger than the necessity for saving, 
and he returned to the farm penniless, 
but dressed in the latest fashion, having 
used his savings for a wardrobe that 
was the wonder of the countryside. 
That one debauch of clothes satisfied 
him for life ; after that his tastes were 
markedly simple. With him the "dandy 
period " was short-lived indeed. That 
he repented bitterly of this one excess of 
folly is shown in his journals, where he 
sets down minutely what to him was a 
mistake that amounted almost to a sin. 
As a rule, he was singularly free from 
folly. His thoughts were too high, his 
ideals too lofty, for him to be long con- 
cerned with trifles such as clothes, and 
the next expenditure mentioned in his 

[21] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

journal is for the "Vicar of Wakefield" 
and Johnson's "Rasselas." Ever im- 
practical, one likes him the better for 
the little human moment when the van- 
ities of the world overcame him. 

At last he secured a school, and then 
began the realization of his ideals re- 
garding the teaching of children. His 
methods were original and highly suc- 
cessful, especially with the very young. 
He established a mental kindergarten, 
and the fame of his teaching spread 
abroad. Through his work as a teacher 
he achieved his greatest happiness, for it 
led to his meeting with the woman who 
was destined to become his wife. 

As the result of correspondence be- 
tween himself and Mr. May of Brooklyn, 

[22] 



THE ALCOTT MAN 



Connecticut, whose attention had been 
attracted to the work of the young 
teacher, Alcott, then twenty-eight years 
old, drove from the Wolcott home to 
Brooklyn, where he met Abigail May of 
Boston, who was visiting her brother. 
With both it was love at first sight, a love 
that grew into a perfect spiritual union. 

It seemed almost providential that 
Bronson Alcott should have come into 
Abigail May's life at just this time, when 
her heart had been touched by its first 
great sorrow — the loss of her mother. 
Hitherto she had been a light-hearted girl, 
fond of dancing and of the material side 
of life. The young philosopher, with his 
dreams and his ideals, brought a new 
interest into her now lonely life, and 
[23] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

all that was spiritual in her nature re- 
sponded as he freely discussed his plans 
and ambitions with her. In her he 
found both sympathy and understanding. 

A year of letter-writing, a frank and 
honest exchange of thought, brought out 
the harmony of their natures and devel- 
oped in both a sense of oneness, laying 
a firm foundation for the comradeship 
which was not broken through all the 
years, even when the wife and mother 
passed into the Great Beyond. 

The Alcott-May courtship was ideal. 

Retaining the heaven that lay about 

him in his infancy, keeping his close 

companionship with God and God's 

great laboratory, Nature, Bronson Alcott 

demanded something more than mere 
[24 J 



THE ALCOTT MAN 



physical attraction in choosing his wife. 
A certain quaint circumspection charac- 
terized their love-making. Abigail May 
once wrote: **Mr. Alcott's views on 
education were very attractive, and I was 
charmed by his modesty," and long after 
their engagement she spoke of her lover as 
"her friend." He was, and so he contin- 
ued to be in the highest sense of the 
word. 

So satisfying were those friendship- 
courtship days, that apparently both 
were loath to end them, for another 
twelvemonth passed before the announce- 
ment of their betrothal, and it was nearly 
three years from the date of their first 
meeting before their marriage in King's 
Chapel, Boston, where the brother who 

[25] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

had been the means of bringing them 
together performed the ceremony. 

As their marriage day approached, 
there was Httle festivity and none of the 
rush that usually precedes a modern 
wedding. Everything was simple, quiet, 
and sure. 

This is Bronson Alcott's letter, asking 
a friend to act as best man at his wedding. 

Dear Sir : 

Permit me to ask the favor of your 

calling at Col. May's at 4 o'clock precisely 

on Sunday afternoon next, to accompany me 

and my friend Miss May to King's Chapel. 

With esteem, 

A. B. Alcott 
Thursday, May 20, 

112 Franklin St. 1830. 

[26] 



THE ALCOTT MAN 



So began the Alcott pilgrimage, their 
fortune consisting of love and faith and 
brains. In these they were rich indeed, 
and thus closed another chapter in the 
life of the gentle philosopher, of whom 
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said : "Our 
Alcott has only just missed being a 
seraph." 



[27] 



CHAPTER III 

The Alcott Children 

FOR some months after their mar- 
riage the Alcotts lived in Boston, 
where the young enthusiast taught 
a school for infants. Again his fame as 
a teacher traveled, and he received an 
offer from the Quakers of Philadelphia 
to start a school there, an offer so tempt- 
ing that the Alcotts moved to German- 
town, Pennsylvania, where Anna and 
Louisa were born. 

Eugenics and prenatal influence were 
not discussed then as they are to-day, 
but in the Alcott family nearly a century 

[28 1 



THE ALCOTT CHILDREN 



ago they were being thought and lived. 
Bronson Alcott and his wife considered 
children an expression, not of themselves, 
but of divinity, and as such to be ac- 
cepted as a trust, rather than as a grati- 
fication of their own human longing for 
fatherhood and motherhood. They felt 
it their parental privilege rather than 
their duty to aid the human development 
of the child and thus further the fulfill- 
ment of its destiny. Each little soul 
was humbly asked for and reverently 
prepared for. From the moment they 
knew their prayer had been granted, the 
individuality and rights of that soul 
were respected. It was considered as 
a little guest that must be made happy 
and comfortable, carefully cherished. 



I 29] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

mentally and physically, while its fleshly 
garment was being prepared and the little 
personality made ready for its earthly 
appearance. How careful they were of 
every thought and influence, for to both 
parents this period was the most sacred 
and wonderful in their lives and in the 
lives of their children. 

The depth of his joy and the simplicity 
of his faith are exquisitely expressed in 
the lines which Bronson Alcott wrote 
before the birth of his first child, Anna : 

To An Expectant Mother 
The long advancing hour draws nigh — the 

hour 
When life's young pulse begins its mystic 

play, 

And deep afFection's dreams of Form or Joy 
[30I 



THE ALCOTT CHILDREN 



Shall be unveiled, a bodily presence 

To thy yearning heart and fond maternal 

eye, 
The primal Soul, a semblance of thine own, 
Its high abode shall leave and dwell in day. 
Thyself its forming Parent. A miracle, 

indeed. 
Shall nature work. Thou shalt become 
The bearing mother of an Infant Soul — 
Its guardian spirit to its home above. 
But yet erewhile the lagging moments cqme 
That layeth the living, conscious, burden 

down. 
Firm faith may rest in hope. Accordant 

toils 
Shall leave no time for fear, nor doubt, nor 

gloom. 
Love, peace, and virtue, are all born of 

Pain, 

[31] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

And He who rules o'er these is ever good. 
The joyous promise is to her who trusts. 
Who trusting, gains the vital boon she asks. 
And meekly asking, learns to trust aright, j 

Louisa, the second child, born on her 
father's birthday, was the most intel- 
lectual and the most resourceful of the 
Alcott children, reflecting in her own 
buoyant personality the happy condi- 
tions existing before and at the time of 
her birth, when her father had attained 
his greatest material prosperity and was 
also realizing his mental ambitions in 
his little school, and her mother was 
temporarily relieved from the cares that 
so often weighed heavily upon her. 

Shortly before the birth of Elizabeth 

,the father makes this entry in his journal : 
l32] 



THE ALCOTT CHILDREN 



The Advent Cometh 

Daily am I in expectation of beholding with 
the eye of sense, the spirit that now lingers 
on the threshold of this terrestrial Hfe, and 
only awaits the bidding of the Reaper within, 
to usher itself into the presence of mortals. 
It standeth at the door and waiteth for ad- 
mission to the exterior scene of things. . . . 
Let the time come. Two little ones in ad- 
vance await its coming ; and greetings of 
joy shall herald its approach. 

The birth of Elizabeth is followed by 
this entry in his journal : 

At sunset this day a daughter was born 
to us. 

One of the most trying of the Alcott 
family's experiences came after the birth 

[33] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

of Elizabeth, when Bronson Alcott, again 
in Boston, aroused a storm of protest 
with his radical teachings and his 
advanced interpretations of the Bible. 
Shocked that the city where he expected 
to find sympathy and encouragement 
should have repudiated him, his school 
disrupted and abject poverty his lot, 
broken mentally and physically, he met 
with another cruel disappointment in 
the death of his infant son. Yet even 
then there was no word of bitterness, 
and no mention is made in his journal 
of the father's grief. Indirectly it is 
expressed in a subsequent entry announc- 
ing the birth of the fourth daughter, 
Abba May. 

She was born under sunny skies. The 
[34] 



THE ALCOTT CHILDREN 



Storm had passed, and the Alcott family 

had removed to Concord, where they 

enjoyed many of their happiest years. 

A presage of May Alcott's artistic gifts, 

her queenly bearing, elegance, and charm, 

all familiar to readers of "Little Women," 

is found in this entry in the father's 

journal : 

July, 1840. 

A new life has arrived to us (July 26th). 

She was born with the dawn, and is a proud 

little Queen, not deigning to give us the light 

of her royal presence, but persists in sleeping 

all the time, without notice of the broad world 

or ourselves. Providence, it seems, decrees 

that we shall provide selectest ministries 

alone, and so sends us successive daughters 

of Love to quicken the Sons of Life. We 

joyfully acquiesce in the Divine behest and 

135] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

are content to rear women for the future 
world. As yet the ministry is unknown in 
the culture of the nations, but the hour 
draws near when love shall be felt as a chosen 
Bride of Wisdom, and the celestial pair 
preside over all the household of mankind. 

Bronson Alcott did not feel his re- 
sponsibility as a father alone ; he appre- 
ciated his own debt to his children, the 
mental and spiritual help that came 
to him through them, an appreciation 
that found expression in tAiis poem, en- 
tered in his journal before the birth of 
Elizabeth : 

June, 1835 

Invocation to a Child 

She comes from Heaven, she dawns upon my 

sight, 

[36] 



THE ALCOTT CHILDREN 



O'er earth's dark scenes to pour her holy 

light ! 
In sense and blest the Infinite to see 
And feel the heavenly mystery — To Be. 

She comes — in Nature's tenderest, fondest 

name — 
Daughter of God — 'tis she — the same — 

the same 
Mine is she too — my own — my latest child, 
Myself, wrapt in Divinity, yet unbeguiled ! 

Blest Infant ! God's and mine ! yet to me 

given. 
That I might feel anew my Being's Heaven — 
In love and faith to urge my human way, 
Till conscious time be lost in Immortality ! 

Love thee I will ; for thou didst first love 

me — 

t37] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

My faith shall quicken as I dwell on thee, 
Thy Spirit lift me from this "Grave of 

Things," 
And bear me homeward, to the King of 

Kings. 



38 



CHAPTER IV 

The Alcott Baby Book 

BRONSON ALCOTT wrote the first 
Baby Book, a book which throws 
new light on the character of the 
lovable philosopher, showing one of New 
England's intellectual leaders as a very 
human and lovable man as well as "a 
fond and foolish father." 

His Baby Book, however, contains no 
minute record of the first tooth, or 
when the baby began to say *'Goo" 
and *'Pitty light''; rather it is the 

father's earnest effort to learn how early 

[39] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

in life the infant mind begins to awaken, 
to indicate comprehension, thought, or 
logic. As Maeterlinck studied the bee, 
so Alcott studied his children, and his 
findings are a revelation, even to-day, 
when the study of the child has become 
a science. 

Mr. Alcott considered vital the devel-. 
opment of the child's individuality and 
mind ; the body seemed to him of sec- 
ondary importance, for this disre- 
gard of the material care of his family 
he has been severely censured ; but, not 
recognizing in his own life the claims of 
the body, devoting all his energies to 
mental growth, it is not surprising that 
he found his fatherly duty in the guid- 
ance of his children's minds. His firm 
l4o] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



faith in the admonition, "Seek ye first 
the kingdom of heaven, and all these 
things shall be added unto you,'* was to 
him excuse enough for considering the 
intellect more than the body. 

His practical shortcomings reaped a 
rich and unexpected reward in the next 
generation, for Louisa M. Alcott would 
probably not have developed her origi- 
nal and highly entertaining literary gift 
without the vicissitudes caused by her 
father's impractical nature and his sub- 
lime faith that at all times and in all 
emergencies the Lord would provide. 
He did provide ; but Louisa was usually 
the channel, and many of her stories 
were written under the whip of stern 

necessity. 

[41] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Doing without has its advantages. 
The Alcott children, never overfed, over- 
entertained, overburdened to baby bore- 
dom with dolls and toys and games, de- 
veloped appreciation, observation, and 
ingenuity. The creative faculty was 
aroused. They found resources within 
themselves. What a handbook Louisa 
might have written on How to be Happy 
though Poor ! 

Mrs. Alcott's keen sense of humor, a 
characteristic inherited by Louisa, often 
came to her rescue and allowed her to 
get fun out of a harassing situation. In 
a letter to her brother, Colonel May, 
praising her husband's intellect, she 
laughingly comments upon his disre- 
gard of physical necessities: *'I am not 
[42] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



sure that we shall not blush into obscurity 
and contemplate into starvation." 

But, to get back to the baby book, or, 
as Mr. Alcott called it, "the psychologi- 
cal history," it was started with a high 
and unselfish motive ; it was developed 
to an astonishing degree. Its purpose 
and scope are best expressed in this 
extract from Mr. Alcott's journal : 

The history of a human mind during its 
progressive stages of earthly experience has 
never as yet, I believe, been attempted. 
Faithfully compiled, from verified data, it 
would be a treasure of wisdom to all mankind, 
replete with light to the metaphysical and 
ethical inquirer. Comparative philosophy 
deduced from an observation of man during 
all circumstances and stages of his existence 
[43] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



is a thing yet unthought of among us. From 
such a work the unity of Humanity might be 
revealed. 

When Anna was born, the father 
began keeping a record of her "physical 
and intellectual progress." When she 
was seven weeks old, her mother wrote : 
*'It seems as if she were conscious of 
his observations and desirous of fur- 
nishing him daily with an item for this 
record." 

The following excerpt from the father's 
diary shows how well Anna succeeded 
in her baby attempt : 

I am much interested in the progress of 
my little girl, now five months old, which I 
have recorded from the day of her birth. 
This record has swollen to a hundred pages. 

[44] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



I have attempted to discover, as far as this 
could be done by external indication, the 
successive steps of her physical, mental and 
moral advancement. 

Moral advancement of a baby five 
months old ! 

Birth of Louisa 

On November 29, 1832, his thirty- 
third birthday and also the natal day of 
his friend, Ellery Channing, the poet, 
Mr. Alcott chronicles an *' interesting 
event," how interesting the father little 
dreamed, nor how important, not alone 
to the house of Alcott, but to the world. 
Under the heading of Circumstances, 
the father thus records the birth of 
Louisa May Alcott : 

[45] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

A daughter born, on the 29th, ulto., my 
birthday, being 33 years of age. This is 
a most interesting event. Unless those ties 
which connect it with others are formed, the 
wants of the soul become morbid and all its 
fresh and primal affections become dim and 
perverted, . . . Few can be happy shut 
out of the nursery of the soul. 

While the New England philosopher 
was studying the development of his little 
daughters and deducing therefrom facts 
for his psychological history, these same 
little daughters were developing him, for, 
as the child nature unfolded, the father's 
understanding of childhood expanded. 

Thus the baby book grew : 

The influence of children I regard as 
important to my own improvement and 

[46] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



happiness. It is also necessary to the 
prosecution of my studies. Dwelling in the 
primal regions which I wish to explore, they 
are the purest manifestations of its phe- 
nomena, and the only subjects from which 
humanity is to be interpreted in its purity. 

When Anna was three years old and 
Louisa eighteen months, the father writes 
in his journal : 

I passed some time with the children, 
fitting up their playthings, conversing with 
them and learning as far as I could through 
the subtle meaning of looks, accents and 
gestures, their thoughts and feelings. The 
avenues to the spirit are all open, but how 
dim are our perceptions, how cold our 
sympathies, to appreciate the pure and 
bright things which glitter in the arena of 
[47] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

the young mind ! How little of this fairy 
land do we know — we, whose early asso- 
ciations have all been swept from the heart — 
over whose spirits have passed the cold winds, 
the pelting storms, withering and destroying 
the heart's young verdure ! What is there 
to unite us with the spirit of a child ? What 
have we in common with its joyous yearning 
for the beautiful, its trust in human sayings, 
its deep love for those on wh.om it relies 
for attention and support, its vivid picturing 
of ideal life, its simplicity, its freedom from 
prejudice and false sentiment ? Where are 
these to be seen in our dim nature ? 

He might have answered the question 
by looking within himself. Child com- 
panionship kept alive the spirit of the 

Alcott boy, which constantly shone 

[48] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



through the man's philosophy. As the 
boy saw in every rock and tree and 
flower an expression of the Infinite, is it 
any wonder that the man should have 
recognized God's higher manifestation 
in the child, and should have written 
in his journal these lines, which are the 
very glorification of fatherhood and re- 
veal the sacredness with which he looked 
upon his stewardship ? 

He] who deals with the child deals — did 
he know it — with the Infinite, Within the 
young spirit committed to his care are in- 
finite capacities to be filled, infinite energies 
to be developed, and on him devolves the 
amazing responsibility — sacred, personal, 
all his own — of filling these capacities, 
unfolding these energies, from the stores and 
l49l 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

life of his own spirit. This is his office as a 
parent. But how can he who knows nothing 
of the Infinite within himself call it forth and 
direct its forces in others ? 

From the first, Louisa must have 
shown strong individuality and unusual 
tendencies, for Mr. Alcott's notes on 
Louisa are entitled ''Observations on the 
Vital Phenomena of My Second Child." 
A more vital, lovable, contradictory 
specimen of childhood cannot be imagined. 
Blessed with her father's brilliancy of 
mind, her mother's quick wit and love of 
fun, Louisa furnished a problem for end- 
less study. She was less than two years 
old when her individuality had so asserted 
itself that her father found himself puz- 
zled and admitted that elements were 
[50] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



finding their way into his observations of 
whose origin he could give no account. 
"My analysis, however accurate and 
elaborate, was still imperfect, and I 
was left in doubt. I had made no pro- 
vision for the admission of innate influ- 
ences from the mind itself." 

Here is a quaint little record of the 
Alcott babies' school days, when Anna 
was four years old and Louisa a little 
more than two : 

At school Anna reads, marks and listens 
to conversations and stories. Louisa works 
with her in all except the reading and mark- 
ing. They have a playroom, where they 
enjoy their own amusements, uninterrupted 
by the presence of adults — often a bar to 
the genuine happiness of childhood. Anna 
[51] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

reads simple sentences from Leffanoch's 
Primer, writes intelligibly on tablets and 
slates, and is improving in work and man- 
ners. 

(This of a baby of four.) 

A spiritual and moral inventory of 
the progress of Anna and Louisa is set 
down by the father when his daughters 
had reached the dignified ages of six 
and four : 

The children have improved under my 

training. Anna, who has been with me more 

of the time than Louisa, has been greatly 

benefited. She is happier, more capable 

of self control, more docile and obeys from 

love and faith. She has fine elements for 

excellence, moral and intellectual. If she 

does not evince a pure and exalted character, 
[52] 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



it will be our failure, not hers, in the improve- 
ment of her natural endowments. 

Louisa is yet too young for the formation 
of just views of her character. She manifests 
uncommon activity and force of mind at 
present, and is much in advance of her sister 
at the same age ; example has done much to 
call forth her nature. She is more active 
and practical than Anna. Anna is ideal, 
sentimental. Louisa is practical, energetic. 
The first imagines much more than she can 
realize ; the second, by force of will and 
practical talent, reahzes all that she conceives 
— but conceives less; understanding, rather 
than imagination — the gift of her sister — 
seems to be her prominent faculty. She finds 
no difficulty in developing ways and means to 
obtain her purpose ; while her sister, aiming 
at much, imagining ideal forms of good, and 
[53] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

shaping them out so vividly in her mind 
that they become actual enjoyments, fails, 
when she attempts to realize them in nature 
— she has been dwelling on the higher and 
more speculative relations of things. 

Both represent interesting forms of charac- 
ter, both have wide and useful spheres of 
action indicated in their conformation and will 
doubtless if continued to us, be real blessings. 

That they did prove real blessings the 
history of the Alcott family has shown. 

How many fathers ever acknowledge 
their spiritual debt to the gift of father- 
hood as has Bronson Alcott : 

I know not how much more spiritual I 
am from the parental relation (he writes), 
how much I have been indebted to them 
for the light that hath dawned upon my own 

[54] 




A. Bronson Alcott at thk Age of 53. 

From the portrait by Mrs. Hildreth. 

Page 54. 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



mind from the radiance of their simple 
spirits. Certain it is that the more I asso- 
ciate with them in the simple ways they 
love, the more do I seem to revere. Verily 
had I not been called to associate with chil- 
dren, had I not devoted myself to the study 
of human nature in its period of infancy and 
childhood, I should never have found the 
tranquil repose, the steady faith, the vivid 
hope that now sheds a glory and a dignity 
around the humble path of my life. Child- 
hood hath saved me. 

Out of his theories, his studies, and 
meditations came a sublime ambition, a 
desire to become a laborer in the "Field 
of the Soul." 

Infancy I shall invest with a glory — a 
spirituality which the disciples of Jesus, 
(551 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

deeply as they entered into His spirit and 
caught the Hfe of His mind, have failed to 
bring forth in their records of His sayings and 
life. I shall redeem infancy and childhood, 
and, if a Saviour of Adults was given in the 
person of Jesus, let me, without impiety or 
arrogance, regard myself as the Children's 
Saviour. Divine are both missions. Both 
seek out and endeavor to redeem the Infinite 
in man, which, by reason of the clogs of 
sense and custom, is in perpetual danger of 
being lost. The chief obstacle in the way 
of human regeneration is the want of a due 
appreciation of human nature, and partic- 
ularly of the nature of children. 

Home and its influence upon children 
meant much to Mr. Alcott, and in all 

his writing the nearest approach to a 

[56I 



THE ALCOTT BABY BOOK 



protest against the poverty he was called 
upon to endure was when, for a time, he 
was obliged to give up that home. Deep 
is the pathos that lies between the lines 
of this entry in his journal : 

Home for Children 
I deem it very important to the well being 
of my children to insure them a home. At 
least their means of improvement are limited, 
their pleasures are abridged, the domestic 
relations, so vital to virtue — to all that 
lives in the heart and imagination, are 
robbed of their essential glory, and the effect 
is felt throughout the character in after life. 
I feel that my duty as a father cannot be 
fully carried out when I am thus restricted. 
Whether we can yet improve this condition 
remains to be determined. 
l57] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

The home was reestablished — and 
such a home ! An influence felt through- 
out the world, the inspiration of every 
book Louisa Alcott wrote. 



58 



CHAPTER V 

Letters and Conversations with 
Children 

HAPPINESS reigned in the Alcott 
home, and poverty seldom brought 
with it a shadow. The girls had 
toys and a variety of them, — rag dolls, 
kittens, gingerbread men, and barnyard 
animals (the latter skillfully cut out of 
cake dough by the mother, who had a 
genius for inventing surprises). As they 
grew older, they delighted in private 
theatricals. Some of their plays, written 
by Anna and Louisa, have been published 
under the title of "Comic Tragedies.'* 

They are thrillingly melodramatic, 

[59] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

thickly sprinkled with villains and 
heroes, witches and ruffians, lovely 
ladies in distress, gallant knights to the 
rescue, evil spirits and good fairies, 
gnomes and giants. All are direfuUy 
tragic and splendidly spectacular. 
Louisa as a child showed the dramatic 
quality which later found artistic 
expression in her stories. On a rainy 
afternoon the children were never at a 
loss for entertainment. They "acted" 
in the attic or played dolls in their own 
playroom, and such dolls ! Old Joanna, 
of whom Louisa has drawn a lifelike pic- 
ture in "Little Women," is to-day in 
existence, battered, scarred, but none the 
less precious, one foot carefully bandaged, 

after the army-nurse method. 
l6o] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



Poverty was made interesting. At 
Christmas a tree was hung with apples, 
nuts, and popped corn, and small trifles 
made by the children were fastened to 
the branches. Father and mother made 
much of the spirit of the Christ birthday, 
which was celebrated in simple, whole- 
some fashion, in vivid contrast to the 
modern Christmas festival. 

The Alcott letters and journals show 

tremendous intellectual activity on the 

part of the small atoms of humanity who 

came to grace the Alcott home. Anna 

and her father held moral and intellectual 

discussions when Anna was four. Louisa 

was writing a daily journal before she 

could more than print. As soon as a 

child could read, family reproofs were 
[6il 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



administered by notes from father and 
mother to the erring one, not only point- 
ing out the fault, but how to correct it. 
The father encouraged his daughters 
to study themselves and to write down 
their thoughts. Their journals, in con- 
sequence, reflect the characteristics of 
each one and are storehouses of informa- 
tion. Louisa, poor little soul, in her 
happy, hoydenish childhood, found time 
one day in a fit of mentality to set down 
in black and white her chief faults. One 
of her most serious, according to the self- 
imposed confession, was "love of cats," 
a sin which easily beset her all her days, 
for she inherited her father's love of ani- 
mals and of children. 

Widely varied in character and tem- 

[62] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



perament were the four Alcott girls. 
Anna, the first, reflected the beauty, the 
happiness, and the romance of the Al- 
cotts' first year of married life. Louisa, 
born some eighteen months later, when 
father and mother had grown even closer 
together through the new bond formed 
by the love of their little daughter, em- 
bodied a deeper, stronger, surer charac- 
ter. She was decisive, with a deter- 
mination and surety of self and bril- 
liancy of mind that reflected the best 
in both parents. Elizabeth, the third 
child, was, in some respects, the most 
beautiful character of all. About her, 
from the hour of her conception, seemed 
to hover a spiritual, protecting love. 

Seemingly from earliest infancy she stood 

[63] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

on the borderland of the spiritual world, 
in flesh all too fragile to retain the spirit 
which remembered and longed, notwith- 
standing the love with which she was 
surrounded, to return to the mystical 
beauty from which she had come. A 
child of dreams and fancies, loving all 
that was harmonious, she entered this 
life at twilight, she left it at the dawn, 
a coming and going typical of this dream 
child, who was lent for a little time to 
make the world more glad. 

The birth of Amy is also symbolical, 
the one sunny-haired, sunny-hearted girl 
of the family, who came with the rising 
of the sun. She seemed made for love, 
sunshine, and happiness, and had them 

all, but she was brave to face hardships 
[64] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



and equally ready to accept comfort and 
luxury. A queen, the father called her 
the morning of her birth, and so they 
brought her up, the Little Snow Queen. 
The wise, fostering love of the father, 
the helpful, understanding watchfulness 
of the mother, are reflected in their 
letters to their children. Time was not 
considered wasted that was devoted to 
these letters of gentle admonition and 
kindly counsel. There was no discussion 
of faults or mistakes in the Alcott house- 
hold ; reproofs remained little secrets 
between father and daughter, or mother 
and daughter, and the effect of this wise 
and constant watchfulness grows more 
apparent as the children advance from 

childhood to girlhood and on to woman- 
[65] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



hood. They were taught to know them- 
selves. They were taught, too, the rela- 
tion of the Christ child with their own 
childhood, beautifully expressed in some 
of the letters from Bronson Alcott to his 
eldest daughter. 

It was the father's habit to write each 
child on her birthday anniversary and 
at Christmas. Anna was six years old 
when he gave her this beautiful descrip- 
tion of the coming of the Christ : 

For Anna 
1837 
To my Daughter Anna. 

A longer time ago than you can under- 
stand, a beautiful Babe was born. Angels 
sang at his birth. And stars shone brightly. 

Shepherds watched their flocks by their 

[66] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



light. The Babe was laid in his Manger- 
cradle. And harmless oxen fed by his side. 
There was no room for him nor his mother in 
the Inn, as she journeyed from her own home. 
This Babe was born at this time of the 
year. His name was Jesus. And he is 
also called Christ. This is his birth night. 
And we call it Christ-mas, after him. 

I write you this little note as a Christmas 
Gift, and hope my Httle girl will remember the 
birth night of Jesus. Think how beautiful he 
was, and try to shine in lovely actions as he 
did. God never had a child that pleased him 
so well. Be Hke a kind sister of his, and so 
please your Father, who loves you very much. 
Christmas Eve, 

December 24th, 1837. 
From your 

Father. 
[67] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Again on Christmas Eve, two years 
later, he describes to his little daughter 
of eight years her own coming into the 
world of material things. 

The belief in prenatal influence is 
strongly indicated, for the father tells 
his little girl that they thought just how 
she would look and pictures to her the 
joy and the love with which she was sur- 
rounded before her coming into the land 
of the material and first seeing with her 
baby eyes the light of a world day. 

For Anna 
1839 

You were once pleased, my daughter, with 

a little note which I wrote you on Christmas 
[68] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



Eve, concerning the birth of Jesus. I am 
now going to write a few words about your 
own Birth. Mother and I had no child. 
We wanted one — a Httle girl just like you ; 
and we thought how you would look, and 
waited a good while for you to come, so 
that we might see you and have you for our 
own. At last you came. We felt so happy 
that joy stood in our eyes. You looked 
just as we wanted to have you. You were 
draped in a pretty little white frock, and 
father took you in his arms every day, and 
we loved you very much. Your large 
bright eyes looked lovingly into ours, and 
you soon learned to love and know us. When 
you were a few weeks old, you smiled 
on us. We lived then in Germantown. 
It is now more than eight years since this 

happened, but I sometimes see the same 
I69] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

look and the same smile on your face, and 

feel that my daughter is yet good and pure. 

O keep it there, my daughter, and never lose 

it. 

Your Father, 

Christmas Eve, 

Beach Street, 

Dec. 24, 1839. 

On her birthday some three months 

later, he continues the thought in this 

exquisite letter : 

March 16, 1840. 

My dear Daughter, 

With this morning's dawn opens a 

new year of your Life on Earth. Nine years 

ago you were sent, a sweet Babe into this 

world, a joy and hope to your father and 

mother. After a while, through many smiles 
[70] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



and some few tears, you learned to lisp the 
names of father and mother, and to make 
them feel once more how near and dear 
you were to their hearts whenever you named 
their names. Now you are a still dearer 
object of Love and hope to them as your love 
buds and blossoms under their eye. They 
watch this flower as it grows in the Garden 
of Life, and scents the air with its fragrance, 
and delights the eye by its colours. Soon 
they will look not for Beauty and fragrance 
alone, but for the ripening and ripe fruit. 
May it be the Spirit of Goodness ; may its 
leaves never wither, its flowers never fade; 
its fragrance never cease ; but may it flourish 
in perpetual youth and beauty, and be trans- 
planted in its time, into the Garden of God, 
whose plants are ever green, ever fresh, and 
bloom alway, the amaranth of Heaven, the 
[71] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

pride and joy of angels. Thus writes your 

Father to you on this your birth morn. 

Monday, i6 March, 1840. 

Beach Street, 

Boston 
For 

Anna, 

in the Garden of Life. 

This letter and his allusion to "your 
life on earth" show plainly his belief 
in life eternal, for Bronson Alcott con- 
sidered earthly existence merely a period 
in the evolution of the soul. 

On Christmas Eve, 1840; when Anna 
was nearly ten, Louisa just past her 
eighth birthday. May, the golden-haired 
baby of the Alcott household, and Eliza- 
beth the little shadow child of four, he 
[72] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



wrote Christmas letters to his daughters, 
which show his appreciation of their 
special needs, and his respect for their 
individualities. The letter to Elizabeth 
is missing ; to Anna he wrote : 

For Anna 
1840 

BEAUTY or DUTY 

which 

loves Anna best ? 

a 

Question 

from her 

FATHER 

Christmas Eve 
Dec. 1840 
Concordia. 

[73] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

For Louisa, the father's message was 
this: 

For Louisa 
1840 

Louisa loves — 

What ? 
(Softly) 

FUN 

Have some then, 

Father 

says. 

Christmas Eve, Dec. 1840 

Concordia. 



74 1 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



For the baby of the hojsehold, the 
father's love message took poetic tuin:: 

For Abba 
1840 

For Abba 
Babe fair, 
Pretty hair, 
Bright eye. 
Deep sigh. 
Sweet Hp, 
Feet slip. 
Handsome hand, 
Stout grand, 
Happy smile. 
Time beguile, 
All I ween, 
Concordia's Queen. 
[751 



LETTERS FROM I HE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



Almost ^vithout the dates, one could 
keep track of the development of the 
Alcott girls through their father's letters. 
This one demonstrates his gift of teach- 
ing by the use of suggestion : 
For Anna 
1842 
A Father's Gift 
to his 
Daughter 
on her 
Eleventh Birthday. 
Concordia 
1 6th March 
1842 

My dear daughter, 

This is your eleventh birthday, and 

as I have heretofore addressed a few words 
[76I 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



to you on these interesting occasions, I 
will not depart from my former custom 
now. 

And my daughter, what shall I say to you ? 
Shall I say something to please or to instruct 
you — to flatter or benefit you ? I know 
you dislike being pleased unless the pleasure 
make you better, and you dislike all flattery. 
And you know too, that your father never 
gave you a word of flattery in his life. So 
there remains for you the true and purest 
pleasure of being instructed and benefited 
by words of love and the deepest regard 
for your improvement in all that shall 
make you more happy in yourself and 
beautiful to others. And so I shall speak 
plainly to you of yourself, and of my desire 
for your improvement in several important 
things. 

(771 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

First — Your Manners. Try to be more 
gentle. You like gentle people and every- 
one is more agreeable as he cultivates this 
habit. None can be agreeable who are desti- 
tute of it and how shall you become more 
gentle ? Only by governing your passions, 
and cherishing your love to everyone who is 
near you. Love is gentle : Hate is violent. 
Love is well-mannered ; Selfishness is rude, 
vulgar. Love gives sweet tone to the voice, 
and makes the countenance lovely. Love 
then, and grow fair and agreeable. 

Second : Be Patient. This is one of the 

most difficult things to everyone, old or 

young. But it is also one of the greatest 

things. And this comes of Love too. Love 

is Patient : it bears ; it suflpers long ; it is 

kind; it is beautiful; it makes us like 

angels. Patience is, indeed, angelic; it is 
l78] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



the Gate that opens into the House of Happi- 
ness. Open it, my daughter, and enter in 
and take all your sisters in with you. 

Third : Be Resolute. Shake ofF all Slug- 
gishness, and follow your Confidence as 
fast as your feelings, your thoughts, your 
eye, your hand, your foot, will carry you. 
Hate all excuses : almost always, these are 
lies. Be quick in your obedience : delay 
is a laggard, who never gets up with himself, 
and loses the company of confidence always. 
Resolution is the ladder to Happiness. 
Resolve and be a wise and happy girl. 

Fourth : Be Diligent. Put your heart into 
all you do : and fix your thoughts on your 
doings. Halfness is almost as bad as nothing : 
be whole then in all you do and say. 

But I am saying a great deal and will stop 
now with the hope of meeting you on the 
l79] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

i6th March, 1843 (the good God sparing us 
till then) a gentler, a meeker, more de- 
termined and obligent girl. 

Your friend 
and 

Father 

Concordia 

16 March 
1842 
For 

Anna Bronson Alcott. 

Such a gift to an eleven-year-old girl 
on her birthday ! One would expect 
not kindly counsel, but a toy, a picture 
book, something pretty for her body, 
not much for her mind. The spiritual- 
ity and the wisdom of the poet-phi- 
[80I 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



losopher are shown in this letter with its 
"excuses, almost always lies," and "de- 
lay is a laggard." 

When Louisa was seven years old, her 
mother was ill, and the child was sent 
away from home for a time. To his little 
absent daughter the father sends this let- 
ter, printed so that she might read it for 
herself : 

For Louisa. 

1839 

My dear Little Girl. 

Father hopes you are well and happy. 

Mother will soon be well enough we hope 

for you to come home. You want to see us 

all I know. And we want to see you very 

much. Be a good girl and try to do as they 
I81I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



tell you. You shall see us all in a few 
days. 

You were never away from home so long 
before. It has given you some new feelings. 

I have printed this note. I hope you can 
read it all yourself. 

Good Bye 

From Father. 
Saturday 

1 1 o'clock in the School Room. 
1839 

On her seventh birthday he writes 
her one of the most wonderful letters 
of the many that have been preserved 
in the volumes of the Alcott manuscripts : 



[82] 



To 



Jj C iris A ^aQT Alcctt 



You. ajre Seireii ye^rs 
elcl tfi dti^y , <an.c7 your" x^M er i5 ^erty 

tn-ijti ^s ^ 3t»ice y^K Jiave Lived, lox V- 
Jjody ^ aheict mitigj g^tfi'n^ ^ii ^r^K^iX 

■ko iLinK ,7i.</tv to i evolve , 1v«j>v "to T-tfve 
a,ti.X li#w +0 oljcy, ILovc reel/ y^««'*' 



OhC ehc ^wTieiXYf*^ ^^ "'^ yni.-n.aL its 
Coilln\^,^^^Xn^ ents . It/ ask^ ytru: dJ- 
wa-yr to BJ.' G^OOl}^ an^ L tja^rs 

i6 CTTneUy. How XirActl^- Ifc 1>ea,TX 
vviM*' y</u" alC tKc v/Rttc- ! Uotv — 

lu Y^i^t-c UK ART wKc*v Y<,»c_ 
t» Obey ■i.^. IrftfW I.ert'jbte "i-t? 



^■arniihmenTs , It. is CrUX) t-ryi^g 
tit ytrccf SOJTL "to Jiecp yTtcc -dXw^ys 

jLfivc Tieg-ttL , -my ole-a.y ala.u^'A 
'tcv, axtotKe-y ye8Li<* tliis j^xeTTii'tt ^. 

Sis Vers ,,in^itk yrunp ZitiX e -£TLC:nM, 
s7\.aAnr fiicx^- ZaVC on. irhtf wiO' Bittk ~ 

Ofett it d,n^ ta/ce wAftt tV iVl -^t . 
SjlZ fAe 'best virjfAes of 

BcsLcK Stf&et, 



jT" 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



For Louisa 

1839 

My Daughter, 

You are Seven years old to-day and 
your Father is forty. You have learned a 
great many things, since you have lived in a 
Body, about things going on around you and 
within you. You know how to think, how 
to resolve, how to love, and how to obey. 
You feel your Conscience, and have no real 
pleasure unless you obey it. You cannot love 
yourself, or anyone else, when you do not 
mind its commandments. It asks you always 
to BE GOOD, and bears, O how gently! how 
patiently ! with all endeavors to hate, and 
treat it cruelly. How kindly it bears with 
you all the while. How sweetly it whispers 

Happiness in your HEART when you Obey 

[83] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

its soft words. How it smiles upon you, and 

makes you Glad when you Resolve to Obey it ! 

How terrible its punishments. It is GOD 

trying in your soul to keep you always Good. 

You begin, my dear daughter, another year 

this morning. Your Father, your Mother, 

and Sisters, with your little friends, show 

their love on this your Birthday, by giving 

you this BOX. Open it, and take what is 

in it, and the best wishes of 

Your Father. 
Beach Street, 

Friday morning, Nov. 29, 1839. 

His explanation to a seven-year-old 
girl that conscience is *'God in your 
soul," and the lines, "since you have lived 
in a body," are eloquent manifestations 
of his belief. It is not surprising that, 
given such thoughts at seven, Louisa 
[84] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



at ten or eleven wrote that she was sure 
in some previous life she must have been 
a horse, — she loved so to run. A month 
before May Alcott was born, little 
Louisa, then eight, again away from home, 
received this letter from her father: 

Cottage, Sunday June 21st, 
1840. 

We all miss the noisy little girl who used 
to make house and garden, barn and field, 
ring with her footsteps, and even the hens 
and chickens seem to miss her too. Right 
glad would father and mother, Anna and 
EUzabeth, and all the Httle mates at 
School, and Miss Russell, the House Play- 
room, Dolls, Hoop, Garden, Flowers, Fields, 
Woods and Brooks, all be to see and answer 
the voice and footsteps, the eye and hand of 
[85I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

their little companion. But yet all make 
themselves happy and beautiful without her; 
all seem to say, " Be Good, little Miss, while 
away from us, and when we meet again we 
shall love and please one another all the more ; 
we find how much we love now we are 
separated." 

I wished you here very much on the morn- 
ing when the Hen left her nest and came 
proudly down with six little chickens, every- 
one knowing how to walk, fly, eat and drink 
almost as well as its own mother ; to-day 
(Sunday) they all came to see the house and 
took their breakfast from their nice little 
feeding trough ; you would have enjoyed the 
sight very much. But this and many other 
pleasures all wait for you when you return. 
Be good, kind, gentle, while you are away, 

step lightly, and speak soft about the house; 
[86] 



5S 



7)r 



/» BoJi&2i 

Tdthev 



r.-JT 



^^^■n^^>f, Xh^ 







f/ic- /i^tvy 
I'lrl -wliif iticd to Tn<dil<e Jiou^e J/itl 
^arcX C71 ^ hatji. i^ncH -Cield rcix^ uivTh her 
'i'ooX^lc-os , and eren ihc hem • artd chick- 
ens seem io m\^f Ker -ice . J(^trJii ^iJi 
ivoicloL MRiher and Aiother , Ar>^iL ^nd. 
Elt\ahet/i , dtxH. dl( the little ^mi-^s at- 

T^lau.f^tk ffn , X>t>X(s , 71 o OP , Cn. Tden. ,jituf 

t-rs, II el is, iVbofid SLTtH J^-rta/^r^ aU 
Ttc 7* See a-Ttii S-HSwe^r ^c vft^Ctr 
M^id. :PtiUtepi ,fhe e^e i.nd hnnd. fi^ 
fkcinr iitilc ctm-p-o.'Yvxf'H . ^-ni ^ei aU 
tr^g^ke ^emn selves nSiypxj m.n^ ^^d-U/^. 



-y^riikiUir her ; all scou h say- . 3e. 
Onocl XiH(e JJ^t^i n/Zit^e ai*/4i/ rra/n 

ik'kli love *9i,'nA. ylif&se ene ^'7\othcy 
all tj\.e TnoTe ; tcC' xt-M.<il Ilowt mKcX 
^vc l»v€ -itdw- we ure Se|o'B.^ra'tetfl . 



X -v*7fA(?<^ y<;zc Ac-Tit Uertj much 

^cr 7t.€^ an A. c&me, ^-rcucily ^o^tk 
-*«ttA s('x /tVf?e cTiickcni ^ ^*^erj, <»yie 

mttneT : "A-^ai; /Stt'Yui'iu \ Hi cm 
All c^me•tc ike A*Mte, ^nd i^Ai 
n.u'T i^eal<faii i^o^yy ikci-y -nice 
2<flCc -(eediTM^ ii^fUf^ ; Vff^ -U'ivilA 



j'rTk^f 



^oocl , lfui<^ , ^antlc , vt^iCt w-ou^ ITS' 
awrfliy ,^^0^ ttjlit/w a-n<^ ?pc«.X S«^^ 

auiei. as we 2 1 as -viricr ^oBer Fd.lhc^^ 
Eli'iahoth sdyf often , Ok 2 

Voter 






WITH THE CHILDREN 



Grandpa loves quiet, as well as your sober 
father and other grown people. 

Elizabeth says often, "Oh I wish I could see 
Louisa, when will she come home, Mother ? " 
And another feels so too ; who is it ? 

Your 

Father. 
I forgot to write how much Kit missed you. 

On her eighth birthday, her father 
writes : 

For Louisa 
1840 
Two Passions strong divide our Life, 
Meek gentle Love, or boisterous Strife. 
Love — Music Anger — Arrow 

Concord Discord 

From her Father 
On her eighth birthday Nov. 29th. 
I87] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

At ten, her birthday greeting from her 

father is this : 

For Louisa 

1842 
My daughter, 

This is your birthday : you are ten 
years of age to-day. I sought amidst my 
papers for some pretty picture to place at 
the top of this note, but I did not find any- 
thing that seemed at all expressive of my 
interest in your well-being, or well-doing, 
and so this note comes to you without any 
such emblem. Let me say, my honest little 
girl, that I have had you often in my mind 
during my separation from you and your 
devoted mother, and well-meaning sisters, 
while on the sea or the land, and now that 
I have returned to be with you and them 

again, meeting you daily at fireside, at 
[88] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



table, at study, and in your walk, and amuse- 
ments, in conversation and in silence, being 
daily with you, I would have you feel my 
presence and be the happier, and better that 
I am here. I want, most of all things, to 
be a kindly influence on you, helping you 
to guide and govern your heart, keeping it 
in a state of sweet and loving peacefulness, 
so that you may feel how good and kind is 
that Love which lives always in our breasts, 
and which we may always feel, if we will keep 
the passions all in stillness and give up our- 
selves entirely to its soft desires. I live, 
my dear daughter, to be good and to do good 
to all, and especially to you and your mother 
and sisters. Will you not let me do you all 
the good that I would .? And do you not 
know that I can do you little or none, unless 
you give me your affections, incline your 
[89] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

ears, and earnestly desire to become daily 
better and wiser, more kind, gentle, loving, 
diligent, heedful, serene. The good Spirit 
comes into the Breast of the meek and loveful 
to abide long ; anger, discontent, impatience, 
evil appetites, greedy wants, complainings, 
ill-speakings, idlenesses, heedlessness, rude 
behaviour and all such, these drive it away, 
or grieve it so that it leaves the poor mis- 
guided soul to live in its own obstinate, 
perverse, proud discomfort, which is the 
very Pain of Sin, and is in the Bible called 
the worm that never dies, the gnawing worm, 
the sting of conscience : while the pleasures 
of love and goodness are beyond all descrip- 
tion — a peacefulness that passes all under- 
standing. I pray that my daughter may 
know much of the last, and little of the first 

of these feelings. I shall try every day to 
[90] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



help her to the knowledge and love of this 
good Spirit. I shall be with her, and as she 
and her sisters come more and more into 
the presence of this Spirit, shall we become 
a family more closely united in loves that 
can never sunder us from each other. 
This your 

Father 
in Hope and Love 
on your 
Birthday 
Concordia, 
Nov. 29, 1842. 

To little Elizabeth the letters were 
few. The child was so constantly the 
companion of father and mother, that by 
speech rather than written word, their 
messages were given. But on her fifth 
[91] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

birthday, her father carefully printed 

this letter : 

For Elizabeth 

1840 

I I I I I Years 
one two three four five 

BIRTH-DAY 

in the 

COTTAGE 

My very dear Httle girl, 

You make me very happy every time 
I look at your smiling pleasant face — and 
you make me very sorry every time I see 
your face look cross and unpleasant. You 
are now five years old. You can keep your 
little face pleasant all the time, if you will 
try, and be happy yourself, and make every- 
body else happy too. Father wants to have 

his little girl happy all the time. He hopes 
I92] 



jor 



/i4o 



"TW* 






#»« tM HmC iiiir ittt 





9r 

in Hey 



t/fly very e/ea r liiile ^irl , 

loll ma.7ce ?7Le 
very nAppy ei^ery ^tme 2. loo'k: ax 
you-T smiling pledsa,7it zdce _ a.7t^ 
ycjc Tne-^ey ?ne very s^orry eireTy 
If me 2 sec i/ou-r Ta.ce look ere ff dn^ 
1f7i2jCeci^3.n-C. jCo^ a^<^ nej*r 2nre yea-ts 
01 i^ jT^ic can 7<eep ysTcr Jiilte ~fd^ec 



jieii<;a.7tt nU the i.^mc , if y,jt v^'dlisty^ 
ATiR h(- nappy ijfKrSelf ^ avR 7na.ke eire-Tu 
lofy ehe laippy ioo. Iai?ipr wci-n-tc -fa 
liave jin Uitlc ^nrl y,^^^^ ^a tkc-tt^e. 
l[t ?,^e{ J,er> liHlc J^rienJr AnR Tcer' 
-p-pest-nli 0.71(1 /y7aijc i^id -y^uk e her 
Jidifpy ifi-^ay : and ihn htlte note^ 
'to» / i^airi fit rth (Ielij y ^ a. m^c r e f n_- 

^cach StrPciy t\ the ^^reft^ C iti^ . 
'7io\Ar yjSLc Q-tc^ S-ir yaurqr liiile Coti^vQ 
itttAe cou-ni-ry ^Mlta-re &li ts prei-t€j. 
anc( pleamTii- ,»7^R. you. Tiitue fielcic 



"fe ■j>lca.<;e. my little C\Crn ^nd. Ueep 
Jier etfcs, dnd ears, a.n^ TtAnir tln^^ 

httic /loir fi fro/ji 

lAho (o\f('i lii^ fifth g'lT? vartf 7nrvich, 
'hhi KTttwi t^at sTic 7oue^ yitTH. ^eyu- 



*^^ the ti^dy-. 

Jump and Yicii. 

Pull ae fu^ . 

Jli iake- 
_4 ptcee iff CA./cr 
¥or tnp saAe- 



WITH THE CHILDREN 

her little friends and her presents and plays 
will make her happy to-day; and this little 
note too. Last birthday you were in Beach 
Street, in the great City, now you are at 
your little cottage in the country where all 
is pretty and pleasant, and you have fields 
and woods, and brooks and flowers to please 
my little Queen, and keep her eyes, and ears, 
and hands and tongue and feet, all busy. 
This little note is from 

FATHER, 
who loves his little girl very much, and knows 
that she loves him very dearly. 

Play, play. 

All the day. 

Jump and run 

Every one. 

Full of fun, 

All take 
[93] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

A piece of cake. 
For my sake. 

His wish to encourage the Httle girl 
in her efforts to be good, kind, gentle, 
and patient, and his appreciation of her 
accomplishment, is set forth in this 
characteristic little note : 

Concord, Cottage, 
February 2nd, 1842. 
My dear Elizabeth, 

You give me much pleasure by your 
still, quiet manners, and your desire to do 
things, without asking impatiently and sel- 
fishly for others to help you without trying 
first to help yourself. Trying is doing ; 
doing is but trying ; try then always and you 
will do ; and every one loves to help those 
who try. I will print a little sentence for 
1 94] 



WITH THE CHILDREN' 



you in large letters and you who have already 
found it so easy to do things for yourself will, 
I dare say, remember it, and follow it too — ■ 
This is it — 

TRY FIRST : AND 
THEN ask: and 
TRY PATIENTLY TILL 
YOU HAVE TRIED 
YOUR BEST : AND 
YOU WILL NOT NEED 
TO ASK AT ALL. 

Trying is the only 
Schoolmaster 
whose 
Scholars 
always 

Succeed. 

Your Father. 
Cottage, 

Feb. 2nd. 

[95] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



Little May, the youngest, was the 
pet, not only of the Alcott household, 
but of all the Alcott kin. This quaint 
little dolly letter, written to her by her 
Uncle Junius, has been framed and hangs 
to-day in the library of May Alcott's 
nephew, John : 

Gift of Junius S. Alcott 

to 

Abby. 



96] 



WITH THE CHILDREN 



A 
Little Face 
once smiling 
woke 
to 
greet, the day, 
with sport and play, 
Hands) on her Birthday, in shaking (Hands 
with her sisters, 
and, her visitors, 
that, came, to, chime, 
a, happy, time, with, Lizzy, 
To, give, you, pleasure, uncle, 
gives, this, treasure, to you, so, sweet, 

So, keep, it, neat, and please, my. 

Brother, & your Mother, by always, 

finding that, by, minding, you 

are, the kindest, little girl, that, 

that, ever 

stood d, in, 

(Shoes) (Shoes) 

[97] 



CHAPTER VI 

The Mother's Influence 

UPON the lives of all four of her 
daughters the mother's influence 
rested like a benediction. It is 
felt in her letters ; it is reflected in the 
journals of her girls and in the mus- 
ings of Bronson Alcott, as set down 
in his voluminous journals. And the 
mother spirit hovers over Orchard House, 
where "Little Women" was written and 
lived. 

While letters to Anna from her mother 
are missing, Anna's journal shows how 

vital was Mrs. Alcott's power in the 
I98] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 



upbuilding of her noble character. 
Louisa in "Little Women" has said that 
the girls gave their hearts into their 
mother's keeping, their souls into their 
father's. Anna's letters bear eloquent 
testimony to the strong, helpful, cheery 
influence of the mother upon the child. 
Among the first was this letter, written 
by Anna when she was five years old 
and visiting Mr. Alcott's family at Wol- 
cott : 

Letter to Mrs. Alcott. 

Wolcott Aug. 1 2th, 1836. 
Friday Morning. 
My dear Mother, 

I have to go away by myself and cry 
because I want to see you so much, and 
little sister Lizy and Louisa. Doctor Fuller 
[99] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

is coming to cure Grandmother, i shall see 
you in a few days. You have a splendid 
husband 

Anna 
V years of age — 
(On this she had drawn her hand.) 

She was six years old when she wrote 
this: 

Dear Mother, 

I have not had a note from you for 
a great while. You wanted some wafers 
yesterday will you accept of them from me 
There is not many but it is all that I have got. 
I am very glad my birthday is so near for 
as I grow older, I hope I shall grow better 
and more useful to you, I hope soon we shall 
be settled down in some comfortable little 
home of our own and then shall be contented 

[lOO] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

and happy I hope, I must go to my sums 
now, so goodbye dearest mother 

Your loving Anna 

A letter eloquent of the tender relation 
between mother and child is this written 
during the Fruitlands period : 

For 

Dearest mother 
fruitlands. 

Dear mother. 

I wish that you would come to the 
table again. I enjoy my meals much better 
when you are at the table. Was not **Hera- 
clitus" that father read about to-day, a dear 
good man, it seems as though I wanted to 
hug him up and kiss him. I wish men had 
understood his thoughts better than they 
did he would have been happier I think, I 

[lOl] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

have enjoyed this morning readings and con- 
versations better than I have before for a 
good while, I suppose, because I talked and 
I understood it so well. I do not write to 
you very often dear mother but I love to 
dearly when I feel like it, and I love to have 
letters from you. I have not been as good 
as I wish I had this week. I send a little 
bunch of flowers to you they are not very 
pretty but they are beautifully made and 
I thought you would like them. I had a 
beautiful time walking this morning with 
Louisa. Good bye dearest mother from 
your loving 

Anna. 

Many copies of her mother's letters 

are found in Louisa's journals, showing 

the daughter's intense, almost idola- 
[102] 



THE mother's influence 



trous affection. Louisa admired, re- 
spected, and loved her father, but to her 
mother her tenderest thought was given. 
Marmee understood the wa3ward, 
tempestuous, lovable child as no one 
else did, not even loyal Anna, or admir- 
ing Elizabeth. On her birthday the 
mother writes to Louisa:^ 

My dear little girl. 

Will you accept this doll from me 
on your 7th birthday. She will be a quiet 
play mate for my active Louisa for seven 
years more. Be a kind mamma and love her 
for my sake. 

Your mother. 
Beach St., Boston, 1839. 

Louisa was ten when this birthday 
letter was sent : 

[103] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Cottage in Concord. 

Dear Daughter, 

Your loth birthday has arrived, may 
it be a happy one, & on each returning birth- 
day may you feel new strength and resohition 
to be gentle with sisters, obedient to parents, 
loving to everyone & happy in yourself. 

I give you the pencil case I promised, for 
I have observed that you are fond of writing 
& wish to encourage the habit. 

Go on trying, dear, & each day it will 
be easier to be & do good. You must help 
yourself, for the cause of your little troubles 
is in yourself, & patience & courage only 
will make you what mother prays to see you 
her good and happy girl. 

During the Fruitlands period, when 

Louisa was eleven, she found this little 
1 104] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

note tucked carefully away in a spot 
where only she would find and read it : 

Fruitlands. 
My dear, 

Thank you for your sweet note and 
sweeter poetry. The second verse is very 
good. Your love of nature is pure and true. 
It is a lovely school in which good lessons 
may be learned. The happy industry of 
birds, the beautiful hves of flowers, the music 
of brooks all help — 

"The little fountain flows 
So noiseless thro the wood. 
The wanderer tastes repose. 
And from the silent flood 
Learns meekly to do good.'* 

In the following letter, a pretty little 

deference to the child's own personality 
[losl 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

is shown by the mother, in that way 
bringing out in the child respect and 
deference for others : 

Dear Daughter, 

I hope you will not consider me an 
intruder for stopping a moment in your 
"poet's corner" to admire the neatness of 
your desk, the sweetness of your poetry, the 
beauty of the prospect from your window. 
Cherish this love of nature, dear, enjoy all 
it gives you, for God made these helps to 
charm contemplation, and they strengthen 
the noble desire to be or to do all that is 
sent for our training & our good. Heaven 
be about you my child, is mother's Sunday 
prayer. 

Louisa Alcott filled her diary with 

letters from her mother, occasionally 

[io6] 




Abi(;ail May, Mrs. A. Bronson Alcott. 

From a daguerreotype. 

Pa^e 1 06. 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 



adding in later life annotations of her 
own. This letter from her mother when 
Louisa was eleven is an example : 

(From Louisa Alcott's Diary.) 
Concord, 1843. 
Dear Louy, 

I enclose a picture for you which I 
always liked very much, for I have imagined 
that you might be just such an industrious 
daughter & I such a feeble but loving mother, 
looking to your labor for my daily bread. 
Keep it for my sake, & your own, for you and 
I always like to be grouped together. 

Mother. 

Then follows the picture and the lines 
written by Louisa in her journal : 



[107] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

To Mother. 
I hope that soon dear mother, you & I may be 
In the quiet room my fancy has so often 

made for thee, 
The pleasant sunny chamber, the cushioned 

easy chair. 
The books laid for your reading, the vase of 

flowers fair. 
The desk beside the window where the sun 

shines warm and bright. 
And there in ease and quiet, the promised 

book you write, 
While I sit close beside you, content at last 

to see. 
That you can rest dear mother, & I can 

cherish thee. 

Louisa lived to see her hope realized 

and the dream of many years a beautiful 

reality. 

[io8] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

Like most writers, Louisa was moody, 
and in her hours of depression and de- 
spondency she looked upon her work as a 
failure and herself as a useless drag upon 
the family. At such times Marmee in- 
variably came to the rescue and per- 
suaded her discouraged daughter to use 
the pen she was ready to lay down. 
Even in Louisa's childhood, when her only 
promise of future literary achievement 
were her tragedies and melodramas of 
lurid style, little gifts show the mother's 
faith and pride in her daughter's work. 
So did her letters, of which this is an 
example : 

Dear Louisa : 

I sometimes stray about the house and 

take a peep into the journal. Your pages 
[109] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

lately are blank. I am sure your life has 
many fine passages well worth recording, 
and to me they are always precious. Any- 
thing like intellectual progress in my children 
seems to compensate for much disappoint- 
ment & perplexity in my own life. Do 
write a little each day, dear, if but a line, 
to show me how bravely you begin the 
battle, how patiently you wait for the rewards 
sure to come when the victory is nobly won. 

Ever yrs. 

Mother. 

On her fourteenth birthday the mother 
accompanies the gift of a pen with this 
little poem : 

Oh, may this pen your muse inspire, 

When wrapt in pure poetic fire, 

To write some sweet, some thrilling verse ; 
[no] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 



A song of love or sorrow's lay. 
Or duty's clear but tedious way 

In brighter hope rehearse. 
Oh, let your strain be soft and high, 

Of crosses here, of crowns beyond the sky ; 
Truth guide your pen, inspire your theme. 

And from each note joy's music stream. 

Louisa Alcott owed much to her 
mother's example and perhaps even more 
to her mother's influence. This letter, 
carefully preserved in the daughter's 
journal, reveals a wealth of mother- 
love and of God-given wisdom : 

15th Birthday, 

Hillside. 
Dearest, 

Accept this pen from your mother 

and for her sake use it freely & worthily that 

[III] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



each day of this your fifteenth year may 
testify to some good word or thought or work. 

I know there will be born into your spirit 
new hopes, new gifts, for God helps the loving, 
trusting heart that turns to Him. Lift up 
your soul to meet the highest, for that alone 
will satisfy your yearning, aspiring nature. 

Your temperament is a peculiar one, & 

there are few who can really help you. Set 

about the formation of character & believe 

me you are capable of obtaining a noble one. 

Industry, patience, love, creates, endures, 

gives all things, for these are the attributes 

of the Almighty, & they make us mighty in 

all things. May eternal love sustain you, 

infinite wisdom guide you, & the peace which 

passeth understanding reward you, my 

daughter. 

Mother. 
Nov. 29th, 1846. 

[112] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

Deeds, not words, characterized Eliza- 
beth Alcott, as readers of "Little 
Women" will recall. She was about 
seven when she sent this letter, one of 
the very few she wrote, to her mother : 

May, Friday 29. 
Dear Mother, 

I thank you very much for your 
note. I will try to write better than I 
have done. I have not always had a good 
pen. I hope I shall improve in all my 
studies this summer. I hope I can read 
German & French very well, and know a 
great deal about the countries. I must 
write my journal now so I will bid you 

good bye. 

From your loving 
Elizabeth. 
I113I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Birthdays were always celebrated with 
much rejoicing in the Alcott household, 
the gift made secondary to the spirit of 
the day. From the time they were old 
enough to print, the Alcott children on 
the mother's birthday made her some 
little gift, accompanying it with a note. 
Abba May or May, as she was always 
called, at nine years old, began in prose 
but lapsed into poetry : 

Dear Mother, 

I wish you a very happy 
birthday. I hope you will find 
my present Useful, and when you wear it 
think of me. I have taken a great-deal 
of Pleasure in making it for you. 
Please take this Present mother 
on your 49 birthday 
[114] 



THE mother's influence 



With the dearest Love and wishes 
of your little daughter A. 

With Mrs. Alcott, hardship, poverty, 
the grief of seeing her husband misunder- 
stood and often scoffed at, never lessened 
her love for him, or her contentment in 
the marriage relation. The year fol- 
lowing her marriage in a letter to her 
brother she wrote: *'My father has 
never married a daughter or son more 
completely happy than I am. I have 
cares, and soon they will be arduous ones, 
but with the mild, constant, and affec- 
tionate sympathy and aid of my hus- 
band, with the increasing health and 
loveliness of my quiet and bright little 
Anna, with good health, clear head, 

grateful heart and ready hand, — what 
[115J 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

can I not do when surrounded by influ- 
ences like this ?" 

Ideals were never shattered ; illusions, 
if so they may be called, were nevw lost 
by Mrs. Alcott through the stormy years 
that laid between the first happy months 
of her married life and the sunset days 
when all her burdens were laid down. 
To her, the husband who was so long 
denied material success and intellectual 
sympathy ever remained the lover and 
friend. Her admiration for him was 
unbounded, her faith in him complete. 
So high she held him in heart and mind, 
that it was difficult even for those who 
loved him most to appreciate her es- 
timate of him as Poet, Philosopher, and 

Sage. 

Iii6] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

Concerning the most famous portrait 
ever made of Bronson Alcott, done in 
crayons by Mrs. Richard Hildredth, wife 
of the historian and aunt of the portrait 
painter, George Fuller, which, beautiful 
as it was, did not satisfy the wife's ideal, 
Mrs. Alcott writes : 

A tinge of the incomprehensible lies 
softly around it, a field of atmosphere, 
as if she had worked with down from an 
angel's wing rather than with a crayon, — 
as if the moonlight had cast a shadow on 
the lights of her picture, and a divinity had 
touched with a soft shade, the dark portion 
of the figure. Mrs. Hildredth has changed 
the costume from a dress suit to a mantle 
draped about the shoulders. This, I do 
not Hke. The chaste simpHcity of Mr. 
(ii7l 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Alcott's dress is more in character and 
keeping with the severe simpHcity and 
rectitude of his Hfe. Louisa admirably de- 
scribes her father's appearance as she met 
him at the cars. "His dress was neat and 
poor. He looked cold and thin as an icicle, 
but serene as God." After such a testimony, 
from such a daughter, he can afford to dress 
shabbily. 

Contentment, whatever her lot, was 
an attribute of Marmee ; she under- 
estimated herself always. Unquestion- 
ably, Louisa inherited her literary gift 
quite as much from mother as from 
father, and flashes of the quaint humor 
so delightful in the daughter*s books are 
found in the mother's letters. To a friend 

she writes : *' My gifts are few. I live, 
[118] 



THE MOTHER S INFLUENCE 

love and learn, and find myself more con- 
tent every day of my life with humble 
conditions." 

Louisa Alcott never laid claim to 
poetic gift, but on a few occasions her 
verses take to themselves true poetic 
beauty. One of the most exquisite of 
these poems was written by her on the 
death of her mother, and was first pub- 
lished anonymously in the "Masque of 
Poets" of 1878: 

Transfiguration 
In Memoriam 

Mysterious death ; who in a single hour 

Life's gold can so refine, 

And by thy art divine 
Change mortal weakness to immortal power : 
[119I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Bending beneath the weight of eighty years, 

Spent with the noble strife 

Of a victorious life, 
We watched her fading heavenward, through 
our tears. 

But ere the sense of loss our hearts had 
wrung, 

A miracle was wrought : 

And swift as happy thought 
She lived again — brave, beautiful and young. 

Age, pain and sorrow dropped the veils they 
wore. 

And showed the tender eyes 

Of angels in disguise. 
Whose disciphne so patiently she bore. 



[120] 



THE mother's influence 

The past years brought their harvest rich and 
fair; 

While memory and love, 

Together fondly wove 
A golden garland for the silver hair. 



121 ] 



CHAPTER VII 

Children's Diaries 

THE Alcott children were brought 
up to think for themselves, to 
reflect, and to give expression to 
their thoughts. Never laughed at, they 
were not afraid to speak or write of 
what was in their minds. Each kept a 
diary, and no incident that concerned 
the little girls was too trivial for mention 
in the record of the day. These inci- 
dents, collected, give a more compre- 
hensive view of the Alcotts as a family 

than do the father's voluminous journals. 
[122] 




Anna I^ronson Ai.con. 

Frum a daguerreotype. 

Pai-d 122. 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



When Anna was ten, she gravely ex- 
plains under date of April 13, 1841 : 

Father was too unwell to come down 
stairs and mother ironed, Louisa and I 
helped a little while. I wrote my journal and 
a journal for Louisa as she thought she 
could not write well enough. I had no other 
lessons than that. We watched a little spider 
and gave it some water to drink. In the 
afternoon mother read loud the story of 
the good aunt or part of it while we sewed 
on the clean clothes I mended up the holes 
and Louisa and Lizzy sewed on a sheet. In 
the evening we played mother lets us play 
in the evening. We went to bed soon. 

This sewing bee recalls the long even- 
ings in the March home, described in 
[123] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

** Little Women," when the four girls 
and the mother sewed dutifully on sheets 
for Aunt March, dividing seams into 
countries, discussing Europe, Asia, 
Africa, and America as they stitched. 
When she was twelve, Anna's literary 
aspirations sought a vent in attempted 
poetry. Later she collaborated with 
Louisa in writing the "Comic Tragedies." 
Anna's confidante and comrade, Louisa, 
was frequently the victim of these poetic 
effusions, her reception of which gives 
quite a line on her ardent temperament. 
This entry in Anna's journal for April 
23, 1843, is eloquent : 

This morning I rose pretty early — After 

breakfast I read and wrote stories. In the 
[124] 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



afternoon I wrote some letters and the follow- 
ing one to Louisa : 

Louisa dear 

With love sincere 
Accept this little gift from me 

It is with pleasure 

I send this treasure 
And with it send much love to thee. 

Sister dear 
Never fear 
God will help you if you try. 
Do not despair 
But always care 
To be good and love to try. 
In the evening I read in a book called 
'Stories on the Lord's-prayer. ' I talked 
with Louisa after I went to bed and she 
pinched me on my leg. 

[125] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Two or three years later Anna writes : 

Monday. 

Mother went to Boston and Louisa and 
I cleaned house all day. I love order above 
all things and I take great pleasure in seeing 
all neat about the house. 
Tuesday. 

I worked hard till 2 o'clock when we all 
met to sew while mother read aloud from 
"Miss Bremers Brothers and Sister's." It 
is most beautiful such a happy family. I 
think Miss Bremer would make a lovely 
mother the mothers in her books are so sweet 
and she has beautiful idear's about family's. 
I love to read natural stories. 
Wednesday 30th. 

We rose very early and eat breakfast. I 

think it is a dreadful thing to grow old and 
[126I 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



not be able to fly about, but then I suppose 
I shall not care about flying when I grow 
older, still it is horrid to think about being 
an old woman all wrinkled and blind. I wish 
I could keep young forever. I should love 
to live among all those I love and be with 
them all the time. 

Reading was a part of the daily routine 
in the Alcott household, and Anna's 
taste for German recalls vividly certain 
episodes between Meg and John Brooks 
in "Little Women." 

Friday i8th. 

I read one of Krummacher's parables 

in German. I think they are very beautiful, 

the language is so elegant. I love to hear 

beautiful words and these stories are told so 

simply and are full of such sweet thought. 
[127] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

I found a great many which have never been 
translated and I intend to try myself to 
translate them. I think it is the pleasantest 
thing I do to read German. It is such a 
splendid language. I mean Elizabeth shall 
learn to read it, she will enjoy it so much. 
Saturday 19th. 

In the afternoon I sewed and Louisa 
read me a very silly story called 'The Golden 
Cup.' I think there is a great deal of 
nonsense written now a days, the papers are 
full of silly stories. 
Sunday 20th. 

I have been reading lately a very beautiful 
book given me by my mother. It is " Char- 
acteristics of Women " by Mrs. Jameson. I 
like it very much. It is a description of 
Shakespear's Heroines, Portia is my favorite, 

she was so noble and I liked the Trial scene 
[128I 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



better than any of Shakespears that I ever 
read. I think this part is beautiful. 

*Let music sound while he doth make his 

choice ; 
Then if he love he make a swan like end 
Fading in music' 

I think this was a beautiful idea. 

I passed a pleasant morning in school, 

translating one of Krummacher's beautiful 

parables. I find great pleasure in this. I 

like German better than I do French. I 

want much to study ItaUan. I have tried 

myself several times but cannot manage it 

without help. I think I should be very 

happy if I could go to school. I think about 

it most all the time and when I am in bed I 

imagine myself in Boston going to Miss 

Peabody's school with other girls and know 
[129] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

that I am learning something. And I think 
I lead rather too solitary a Hfe. I love to see 
people. Mother read in the afternoon from 
Miss Sedgwick's Letters. It was about 
the Germans. She says they are a very 
cheerful people and though poor yet they 
always have a happy smile and cheerful face. 
That their manners are beautiful. They 
are so kind and simple. I know I should 
love them, for I like everything German, 
except their food, which I think must be 
horrid, greasy cabbage and sour bread. 
That seems bad. I should think they are so 
fond of beautiful things ; music, poetry and 
flowers, that they would not like such stuff. 
September, 1845. 
Friday ist. 

I walked before breakfast, the sun was 
bright and there was a cool wind. The 
[ 130] 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



lane was full of beautiful flowers and the grass 
was green and fresh. I had a lovely walk 
and gathered a bunch of goldenrod, spirian 
and gerandia. Everything was so beautiful 
that all my unhappy thoughts of last night 
flew away. I sometimes have strange feel- 
ings, a sort of longing after something I 
don't know what it is. I have a great many 
wishes. I spent the day in the usual manner, 
sewing and studying. In the evening Louisa 
and I walked through the lane and talked 
about how we should like to live and 
dress and imagined all kinds of beautiful 
things. 
Sunday 3rd. 

I sewed all day and mother read from 
"Miss Sedgwick's Letters." I will write a 
piece of poetry, as I have nothing very 
pleasant to write about : 
[131] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

"Oh when thy heart is full of fears 
And the way is dim to Heaven 
When the sorrow and the sin of years 
Peace from thy soul has driven 
Then through the mist of falling tears 
Look up and be forgiven. 

"And then rise up and sin no more 
And from thy dark ways flee 
Let Virtue o*er thy appetites 
Have full and perfect mastery 
And the kindly ones that hover o'er 
Will ever strengthen thee. 

"And though thou art helpless and forlorn 

Let not thy heart's peace go 

And though the riches of this world are gone 

And thy lot is care and woe 

Faint not, but journey ever on 

True wealth is not below. 
[132] I 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



"Oh, falter not but still look up 
Let Patience be thy guide 
Bless the rod and take the cup 
And trustfully abide 
Let not temptation vanquish thee 
And the Father will provide." 

Louisa composed these lines, which I 
think are beautiful. She is a beautiful girl 
and writes as good poetry as Lucretia David- 
son, about whom so much has been written. 
I think she will write something great one 
of these days. As for me I am perfect in 
nothing. I have no genius. I know a httle 
of music, a little of French, German and 
Drawing, but none of them well. I have a 
foolish wish to be something great and I 
shall probably spend my life in a kitchen 
and die in the poor-house. I want to be 
[133I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Jenny Lind or Mrs. Seguin and I can't and 
so I cry. Here is another of Louisa's pieces 
to mother. 

"God comfort thee dear mother, 
For sorrow sad and deep 
Is lying heavy on thy heart 

And this hath made thee weep. 

"There is a Father o'er us, mother, 
Who orders for the best 
And peace shall come ere long, mother. 
And dwell within thy breast. 

"Then let us journey onward, mother. 
And trustfully abide, 
The coming forth of good or ill 
Whatever may betide." 

Helpfulness w^as encouraged in the 

Alcott household ; habits of industry 
[134] 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



were carefully fostered. The Alcott chil- 
dren worked when they worked, played 
when they played, but wasted hours 
were unknown. They were taught to 
make the most of every day. When 
Anna was seventeen she wrote in her 
diary : 

August, 1848. 
Thursday 17th. 

Lizzy and I are making plans for spending 
our days usefully. Here is mine. 

Plan. 
Rise at half past 4, bathe, dress and walk 
till half past 5. 

Dress and bathe the children. 
Breakfast at 7. Work till 9. School 
till 12. Work till 2. 

Sew till 4. Practice till 5. 
[135] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Hear Lizzy recite German and French till 
6. Supper. 

This will keep me pretty busy, but I find 
I accomplish so much more when I have a 
plan and certain times for certain things. 
I never can do things without order. I like 
to have something planned for every moment 
of the day, so that when I get up in the morn- 
ing I may know what to do. I wish I could 
be learned. 

An entry in Louisa's diary during the 
Fruitlands period gives this insight into 
one of her average days, w^hen a child of 
eleven : 

I rose at five, and after breakfast washed 

the dishes and then helped mother work. I 

took care of May in the afternoon. In the 

evening I made some pretty things for my 
[136] 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



dolly. Father and Mr. Lane had a talk and 
father asked us if we saw any reason for 
us to separate. Mother wanted to, she is 
so tired. I like it, but not the school part 
or Mr. L. 

Note, too, that when it came to a 
conference concerning family affairs, the 
father asked the advice of his eleven- 
year-old daughter, instead of following 
the more customary method of with- 
holding from her the family confidence 
and deferring discussion of plans until 
the children had gone to bed. 

"Know Thyself," was ever the aim of 
Bronson Alcott in the training of his 
children, and Mr. Lane at Fruitlands 
followed this same line of mental devel- 
opment. This is one of his sample 
[137] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

lessons which Louisa Alcott has copied 
into her journal : 

Sample of our Lessons 

"What virtues do you wish more of," 
asked Mr. L. I answer : 

Patience Love Silence 

Obedience Generosity Perseverance 

Industry Respect Self-denial 

"What vices less of ?" 

Idleness Wilfulness Vanity 

Impatience Impudence Pride 

Selfishness Activity Love of cats 

In this same lesson comes the twelve- 
year-old Louisa's explanation of the dif- 
ference between faith and hope : 

Faith can believe without seeing; hope is 
not sure, but tries to have faith when it de- 
sires. 

[138I 



CHILDREN S DIARIES 



Louisa's love of nature, her trained 
habits of thought, her poetic imagination, 
and her keen appreciation of beauty 
are indicated in this entry in her journal, 
written at Fruitlands in 1843 or 1844, 
when she was a child of ten or eleven : 

I wrote in my imagination book, and 
enjoyed it very much. Life is pleasanter 
than it used to be, and I don't care about 
dying any more. Had a splendid run, and 
got a box of cones to burn. Sat and heard 
the pines sing a long time. Had good dreams, 
and woke now and then to think, and watch 
the moon. I had a pleasant time with my 
mind, for it was happy. 



1 139] 



CHAPTER VIII 

Girlhood and Womanhood 

FAMILIAR to every reader of 
"Little Women" is the March 
family's quaint brown house with 
its many windows, its old-fashioned gar- 
den, its homely, homelike air, its unfailing 
hospitality. This home, as described by 
Louisa M. Alcott, is a picture of the 
Alcott home at Concord, the scene of 
the girlhood and young womanhood of 
the Alcott children. Many of Louisa's 
books were written there; "Little 

Women" was lived there. In Concord, 

[140] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

Anna met John Pratt, and the first love 
story in "Little Women" is Anna's life 
romance. There little Beth passed from 
the material to the spiritual life, and 
Amy first developed the artistic talents 
which later caused her work to be sought 
for by art museums and private col- 
lectors. 

Anna's marriage was a great trial to 
Louisa, for from early childhood the two 
girls had been inseparable companions, 
and after Anna's marriage Louisa learned 
to look upon John as her brother. 

Louisa's diary in the April following 
the passing of Elizabeth touches upon 
the change of homes in Concord, the 
absence of May, who was studying art 
in Boston, of Elizabeth and of Anna : 
[141] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

April. 

Came to occupy one wing of Hawthorne's 
house (once ours) while the new one was 
being repaired. Father, mother and I kept 
house together, May being in Boston, Anna 
at Pratt farm, & for the first time Lizzy 
absent. I don't miss her as I expected to do, 
for she seems nearer & dearer than before, 
& I am glad to know she is safe from pain & 
age in some world where her innocent soul 
must be happy. 

Death iiever seemed terrible to me, & now 
is beautiful, so I cannot fear it, but find it 
friendly and wonderful. 

Amy's artistic efforts and her failures 
in "Little Women" are taken from May's 
actual experiences in Concord. Turn- 
ing the career of the youngest of the 
[ 142 ] 




,\iii; \ May Alcott. 

From a photograph. 

Page 142. 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 



Alcott girls into a romance earlier in 
*' Little Women" than it actually 
occurred in life, doubtless prevented 
Louisa Alcott from chronicling the artis- 
tic success of her youngest sister, a suc- 
cess to which she largely contributed 
and in which she took great pride. 

May Alcott's pictures are found to- 
day in art museums and in leading pri- 
vate collections in this country and 
abroad. Her copies of Turner are re- 
markable. In the Kensington Gallery 
in London students are given them to 
study in preference to the originals. 
Several fine examples are in American 
museums, and a few are owned by mem- 
bers of the Alcott family. 

When the Alcotts moved into Orchard 
[143I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

House, the girls painted and papered 
the interior themselves. May filled the 
nooks and corners with panels, on which 
she painted birds and flowers. Over the 
fireplaces she inscribed mottoes in Old 
English characters. 

The study in Orchard House was the 
real center of the household. For the 
chimney piece Ellery Channing wrote an 
epigram, which May Alcott painted upon 
it, and which has been used in the stage 
reproduction of "Little Women": 
**The Hills are reared, the Valleys scooped in 
vain. 
If Learning's Altars vanish from the Plain." 
In Orchard House to-day, walls, doors, 
and window casings are etched with May 
Alcott's drawings, many preserved under 
[144] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

glass, including a miniature portrait of 
a little girl, naively and modestly in- 
scribed "The Artist." 

High thoughts and cheerful minds 
triumphed over poverty in those Concord 
days. Shortly after the family's return 
from Fruitlands, Louisa wrote for Ellen 
Emerson the fairy stories, "Flower 
Fables." She was at the time only 
sixteen. This was her earliest published 
work, and it was many years before she 
achieved literary fame, although, as did 
Jo in "Little Women," she materially 
helped in the support of the family by 
writing lurid tales. 

Literature rather than commerce freed 
the Alcotts from the burden of debt. 
Louisa's fame was the result, neither of 
[145] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



accident, nor of a single achievement, 
but had for its background the whole 
generous past of her family. Her "Hos- 
pital Sketches" were her letters home, 
when she was serving as hospital nurse 
during the Civil War. "Little Women'* 
is a chronicle of her family. Louisa 
certainly made good use of the vicissi- 
tudes of the Alcotts. She always saw 
the funny side and was not afraid to 
make book material of the home experi- 
ences, elevating or humiliating. Her 
books number between twenty-five and 
thirty. Nearly every one takes its basic 
idea from some real experience. The 
books written by the Alcott family, 
including some eight or ten published by 

Mr. Alcott, Louisa's output, and one or 
[146] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

two written by May, fill two shelves of 
an alcove devoted to Concord authors 
in the Alcott town library. 

Anna's little sons, familiarly known 
in the Alcott household as Freddie and 
Johnnie, or Jack, gave to Bronson Alcott 
in his later days fresh opportunity for 
his favorite study — childhood. To 
both boys came frequent messages and 
gifts from Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt 
Louisa. 

Louisa Alcott sent to Freddie this poem 
on his third birthday : 

A song for little Freddie 
On his third Birthday. 

Down in the field 
Where the brook goes, 
lH7] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Lives a white lammie 
With a little black nose. 

He eats the grass so green, 
He drinks the "la la" sweet, 
*'Buttertups" and daisies. 
Grow all about his feet. 

The ** birdies" they sing to him. 
The big sun in the sky, 
Warms his little "Toe-toes," 
And peeps into his eye. 

He's a very gentle lammie. 
He never makes a fuss, 
He never "saps his marmar,** 
He never says "I muss." 

He hops and he runs, 

"Wound and wound" all day, 
[148] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

And when the night comes, 

He goes "bye low" on the hay. 

In a nice Httle barn, 
Where the "moo-moos" are; 
Freddie says "Good night," 
But the lammie he says " Baa !" 

To be sung by Marmar with appropriate 
accompaniment of gesture, etc. 

On the outside of the letter appears : 

A Httle song for Freddie, 
On his third birthday. 
With "lots" of loving kisses. 
From his Wee-wee far away. 

On his sixth birthday Grandpa con- 
tributes : 

[149] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Concord, Freddie's 
6th Birthday, 
1869. 
Dear Freddy, 

I give you for your Birth Day Present 
this new Picture Book. It has plain words 
for you to pick out and read. The stories 
are short and about things that you know. 
Now, my little scholar, look among the 
leaves every day, and see how many words 
you can tell, — Very soon you will find you 
can read whole pages, spell the whole book 
through, and write the stories, word for word 
on your slate or in your little writing book. 
Then you will not be a little Dunce, and when 
Grandpa comes to see you, you will be glad 
to show him how well you can read. 

Grandma gives the top to Johnny. 

From Grandpa. 
[ISO] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

Grandma, not to be outdone, sent 
this: 

Dear Freddy, 

If worms give us the silk thread — 
can't we find time enough to find out how the 
Fabric is made which dresses are formed of — 
minutes and days — ours. Days and Years 
are passing away — let us be busy — and 
I guess we will get to the Vienna Exposi- 
tion — 

"How doth the little busy Bee" 
Improve each shining hour — Be a Bee — 
and your hours will be too few for the Flowers 
of Science and the Wheels of Use. Grandma 
will help you with her one dim e3^e and 
Grandpa will explain a great deal to you with 
his Shining Light — Mama with your help 
will make you a true, good man. — 
[iSi] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 
1873. 

On his twelfth birthday Aunt Louisa 
again lapsed into poetry : 

f . A. P. 

Who likes to read a fairy tale, 
Or stories told of sword and sail. 
Until his little optics fail ? 

Our boy. 

Who loves his father's watch to wear 
And often draw it out with care 
Upon its round white face to stare ? 

Our boy. 

Who rather proud of his small feet 
When wearing slippers new and neat, 
And stockings red as any beet ? 

Our boy. 
[iS2l 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

Who in his pocket keeps his hands 
As round the house he "mooning" stands 
Or reads the paper like the mans ? 

Our boy. 

Who Hkes to "boss" it over Jack, 
And sometimes gives a naughty whack, 
But gets it heartily paid back ? 

Our boy. 

Who likes to have a birthday froHc 
And eats until he has a colic, 
That for the time is diaboHc ? 

Our boy. 

Who is the dearest little lad, 
That aunt or mother ever had. 
To love when gay and cheer when sad ? 

Our boy. 
[iS3l 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

May angels guard him with their wings, 
And all brave, good and happy things. 
Make nobler thou than crowned kings. 

Our boy. 
March 28th, 1875. 

John, the original of Daisy in "Little 
Women,'* received in his babyhood days 
from Aunt Louisa, some tiny blue stock- 
ings with this verse : 

Two pair of blue hose, 
For Johnny's white toes, 
So Jack Frost can't freeze em, 
Nor darned stockings tease em, 
So pretty and neat 
I hope the small feet 
Will never go wrong. 
But walk straight and strong. 
The way father went. 
[154] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

We shall all be content, 
If the dear little son 
Be a second good John. 

On his tenth birthday, both Grandpa 
and Grandma Alcott sent these char- 
acteristic greetings to their younger 
grandson : 

Grandma Alcott to Johnny, 
loth birthday. June 24th. 1875. 

Giving song, all day long, 
Under the elm or willow; 

With sunshine shed 

On the Httle head 
That rests on Grandma's pillow. 

To and fro, 

Let it go, 
While inside piping cheery, 
[155] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



As he takes his rest 
In his hang-bird*s nest 
Lies Grandma's little deary. 

Grandpa Alcott to Johnny. 
June 24th. 1875. 

A fine little sword 

For gallant Capt. Jack, 
As he marches down the hill 

His army at his back. 

No giants will it kill 

Since its only made for show. 

And the best way to fight. 
Is a kiss for a blow. 

In these days of private secretaries, 

labor-saving devices, and specialization, 

[156] 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

it is difficult to comprehend the obstacles 
that Louisa Alcott encountered in writ- 
ing. Her day was filled with other 
tasks, housework, sewing, teaching, 
nursing — yet the pen was never idle, 
the busy brain was never still. Her 
power of concentration made it possible 
for her to write under harassing condi- 
tions. This is her own description of 
her methods of work : 

My methods of work are very simple and 
soon told. My head is my study, and there 
I keep the various plans of stories for years 
sometimes, letting them grow as they will 
till I am ready to put them on paper. Then 
it is quick work, as chapters go down word 
for word as they stand in my mind, and need 
no alteration. I never copy, since I find by 

hsrl 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

experience that the work I spend the least 
time upon is best liked by critics and speakers. 

Any paper, any pen, any place that is 
quiet suit me, and I used to write from 
morning till night without fatigue when 
"the steam was up." Now, however, I am 
paying the penalty of twenty years of over 
work, and can write but two hours a day, 
doing about twenty pages, sometimes more, 
though my right thumb is useless from 
writer's cramp. 

While a story is under way I live in it, 

see the people more plainly than real ones 

around me, hear them talk, and am much 

interested, surprised and provoked at their 

actions, for I seem to have no power to rule 

them, and can simply record their experiences 

and performances. 

Materials for the children's tales I find 
[IS81 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

in the lives of the Httle people about me, for 
no one can invent anything so droll, pretty 
or pathetic as the sayings and doings of these 
small actors, poets and martyrs. In the 
older books, the events are mostly from real 
life, the strongest the truest, and I yet hope to 
write a few of the novels which have been 
simmering in my brain while necessity and 
unexpected success have confined me to 
juvenile literature. 

I gave Mrs. Moulton many facts for her 
article in " Famous Women," and there are 
many other sketches which will add more if 
they are wanted. The first edition of 
**Jo's Boys" was twenty thousand I beheve, 
and over fifty thousand were soon gone. 
Since January I know Httle about the sales. 
People usually ask "How much have you 
made?" I am contented with a hundred 
[159] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

thousand, and find my best success in the 
comfort my family enjoy ; also a naughty 
satisfaction in proving that it was better 
not to *' stick to teaching" as advised, but to 
write.' 

With all her love for her father, irrev- 
erent Louisa delighted in making fun of 
him. The complacent philosopher, with 
his voluminous journals, his several books 
in manuscript, his liking, despite the 
brilliancy of his conversations, for the 
written rather than the spoken word, 
was a wasteful user of paper and a care- 
less dispenser of ink. That her father 
enjoyed her good-natured banter is shown 
by the fact that in his journal he has 
entered the following poem, written by 

Louisa at nineteen : 

f 160I 




Louisa May Alcott. 

From a daguerreotype. 
Page 1 60. 



GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 



From Louisa on my 52nd birthday. 
Nov. 29th, 1 85 1. 
To Father. 
A cloth on the table where dear Plato sits 
By one of the Graces was spread 
With the single request that he would not 

design 
New patterns with black ink or red. 
And when he is soaring away in the clouds 
I beg he'll remember and think 
Though the "blackbirds" are fair his cloth 

will be fairer 
For not being deluged with ink. 
May plenty of paper of pens and of quiet 
To my dear pa forever be given 
Till he has written such piles that when on 

the top 
He can walk calmly on into Heaven. 

[i6i] 



CHAPTER IX 

Friendships and Beliefs 

RARE friendships existed among the 
great minds of that period, when 
Transcendentalism in America was 
first talked and lived, a close bond of 
sympathy uniting Bronson Alcott, Emer- 
son, Thoreau, Ellery Channing, Mar- 
garet Fuller, and Elizabeth Peabody. 
Such association made its impress upon 
the Alcott daughters. Anna's diary is 
filled with references to visits with the 
Emersons. Louisa's deal less with the 
family and more with the intellectual 
life of the great philosopher, whom she 

fl62l 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

made her idol. Through life he was her 
stanch and understanding friend. 
"The Apostles of the Newness" was 
the scoffing term applied to these liter- 
ary giants of New England by those who 
lacked the mental and spiritual insight 
to recognize greatness in others. 

This attitude of ridicule was largely 
responsible for the continued attacks 
upon the Dial, a quarterly issued by 
the Transcendentalists, edited from 1840 
to 1844 by Emerson, Margaret Fuller, 
George Ripley, and Thoreau. Between 
its modest covers were many of the in- 
tellectual masterpieces of the time : its 
rare volumes are still treasure-houses of 
literature which to-day command any 

price. Mr. Alcott selected its title and 
[163I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

was to a large extent responsible for its 
policy. His Orphic Sayings in the Dial, 
now looked upon as classics, were the 
butt of the press at the time, and the 
derision of Boston society. 

In these Orphic Sayings, he gave this 
remarkable definition of Reform: "Re- 
forms are the noblest of facts. Extant 
in time, they work for eternity : dwelling 
with men, they are with God." 

Conversation among these friends was 
neither trivial nor useless, and in the 
Alcott circle, which included Emerson, 
Thoreau, Theodore Parker, William 
Henry Channing, James Freeman Clarke, 
Elizabeth Peabody, Mrs. Cheney, and 
other of the early Transcendentalists, 

later on augmented by James Russell 

[164] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

Lowell and Nathaniel Hawthorne, a series 
of drawing-room symposiums was estab- 
lished, with Alcott, whom Emerson called 
"serious and superior," as a leader. 
Much of the substance of these conver- 
sations is found in the Alcott journals, 
and in the unpublished manuscripts of 
the poet-philosopher. 

In Concord, the Alcotts once more 
enjoyed the literary companionship they 
craved. Emerson was a near neighbor. 
Thoreau had his cabin at Walden, where 
he had established "a community of 
one." To and from Boston came others 
of the Transcendental group, and Concord 
became the center of thought for New 
England. 

Thinking, however, was not the only 
[i6sl 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

occupation of Bronson Alcott. Dreamer 
he was, but he dehghted in toil and ever 
upheld the dignity of labor, not ashamed 
nor afraid to work for hire as a laborer 
in his neighbor's field, while nightly 
conducting drawing-room conversations 
with a company of peers and students. 

When Thoreau built his cabin, Alcott 
helped him. They cut the trees from 
Emerson's grove. While Emerson was 
abroad, they built a summer-house for 
him on his grounds. It stood for many 
years, a picturesque temple of friendship. 
William Henry Channing mentions a 
morning spent there, reading Margaret 
Fuller's Italian letters. May Alcott has 
made drawings of it, which were pub- 
lished in a volume of "Concord Sketches" 
[i66] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 



that also contained her drawing of Haw- 
thorne's house. 

Mr. Alcott practically rebuilt Orchard 
House for his own family. Mrs. Child, 
a friend of Mrs. Alcott, thus describes 
this home, which is now preserved as a 
memorial to Louisa M. Alcott and is 
visited by thousands every year : 

When they bought the place the house 
was so very old that it was thrown into the 
bargain, with the supposition that it was fit 
for nothing but firewood. But Mr. Alcott 
had an architectural taste, more intelligible 
than his Orphic Sayings. He let every old 
rafter and beam stay in its place, changed 
old ovens and ash holes into Saxon arched 
alcoves, and added a washerwoman's old 
shanty to the rear. The result is a house 
[167] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

full of queer nooks and corners, with all 
manner of juttings in and out. It seems as 
if the spirit of some old architect had dropped 
it down in Concord. 

Thoreau, master builder himself, has 
paid to Bronson Alcott this tribute : 

One of the last of the philosophers, Con- 
necticut gave him to the world. He peddled 
first her wares, afterwards, as he declares, 
his brains. These he peddles still, bearing 
for fruit, only his brain, like the nut its ker- 
nel. His words and attitude always suppose 
a better state of things than other men are 
aquainted with, and he will be the last man 
to be disappointed when the ages revolve. 
He has no venture in the present. But 

though comparatively disregarded now, 
[i68] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 



when his day comes, laws unsuspected by 
most will take effect, and rulers will come to 
him for advice. 

Emerson, who saw the boy mind be- 
neath the philosopher's dignity, said 
tenderly of Bronson Alcott : **He is 
certainly the youngest man of his age 
we have seen. When I looked at his 
gray hairs, his conversation sounded 
pathetic ; but I looked again and they 
reminded me of the gray dawn." 

Even his friends, to say nothing of 
Louisa, occasionally poked fun at him 
for chronicling so minutely all his 
thoughts. Ellery Channing called his 
library, **Encyclopediea de Moi-meme, 
en cents volumes." Yet these journals 

and records are now worth more than the 

[169] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

fine library he collected and in which he 
delighted. 

Emerson has thus described the origin 
of the Fruitlands community : 

On the invitation of James P. Greaves 
of London, the friend and fellow-laborer of 
Pestalozzi in Switzerland, Mr. Alcott went 
to England in 1842. Mr. Greaves died 
before his arrival, but Mr. Alcott was re- 
ceived cordially by his friends, who had 
given his name to their school, Alcott House, 
Ham, near London. He spent several 

months in making acquaintance with various 
classes of reformers. On his return to 
America, he brought with him two of his 
English friends, Chas. Lane and H. C. 
Wright ; and Mr. Lane having bought a farm 

which he called Fruitlands, at Harvard, 
[170] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 



Mass., they all went there to found a new 
community. 

The Fruitlands experiment and its 
failure have been immortalized by Louisa 
Alcott in her "Transcendental Wild 
Oats." The detail of it is thus de- 
scribed by a friend of the Alcott family, 
who had the story from Bronson Alcott 
himself: 

The crop failures necessitated the com- 
munity living on a barley diet, as anything 
animal was not allowed, not even milk and 
eggs. Now and then they gave a thought 
as to what they should do for shoes when 
those they had were gone ; for depriving the 
cow of her skin was a crime not to be tolerated. 
The barley crop was injured in harvesting, 
[171I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



and before long want was staring them in 
the face. The Alcotts remained at Fruit- 
lands till mid-winter in dire poverty, all the 
guests having taken their departure as pro- 
visions vanished. Friends came to the rescue, 
and, Mr. Alcott concluded with pathos in his 
voice, "We put our little women on an ox- 
sled and made our way to Concord ! So 
faded one of the dreams of my youth. I 
have given you the facts as they were ; 
Louisa has given the comic side in 'Trans- 
cendental Wild Oats' ; but Mrs. Alcott could 
give you the tragic side." 

Indeed, it was always Mrs. Alcott who 
could have given the tragic side, skill- 
fully as she kept her worries hidden. Her 
own family, indignant because Bronson 

Alcott could not better provide the 

[172] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 



material needs for his family, on more 
than one occasion besought the faithful 
wife to leave him. 

A letter from her brother, urging this 
step, drew forth from her a defense of 
Bronson Alcott which the husband enters 
in his journal as follows : 

November 
1840 

Passages of a letter from my wife to one 
who misapprehends and perverts my life 
and purposes. 

"If I do not mistake the spirit as well as 
letter of your remark you would have us 
believe that a righteous retribution has 
Overtaken us, (or my husband, and we are 
one,) and that the world is justly punishing 
him for not having conciliated it, by conform- 
[173] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

ing to its wills and ways. — You say that 
my husband was told ten years ago, that the 
world could not understand him. It per- 
haps fell dead on his ears and ever will. 
There is no human voice can convince him 
that the path he has chosen to tread, thorny, 
bleak, solitary, as it is, is not the right one 
for him. Just so did that man of Nazareth 
whom all the world profess to admire and 
adore, but few to imitate ; and these few 
are the laughing-stock of the Christian 
Community. They are branded as vision- 
aries and fools. But this little band when 
alone and disencumbered of idle observation, 
enjoy the recital of their privations ; they 
have been reviled, but they revile not again ; 
they know sorrow and are acquainted with 
grief; and yet there is joy in that group of 
sinless men, such as angels might desire to 
[174] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

partake of. I am not writing poetry, but I 
have tried to place before your mind, in as 
brief, but clear a manner as I am able, our 
real condition, and Mr. Alcott's merit as a 
man, who, though punished and neglected 
by a wicked world, has much to console and 
encourage him in the confidence and co- 
operation of some of the wisest and best men 
living. Ten such, were they permitted in 
their several vocations to act as teachers, 
preachers, and printers, would save our 
wicked city from the ruin that awaits it. 
But they are turned, hke the Nazarene, into 
solitary places to lament the blindness and 
folly of mankind, who are following the vain 
and fleeting shadow for the real and abiding 
substance. But to return to Mr. Alcott, is 
he to sell his soul, or what is the same thing, 
his principles, for the bread that perisheth ? 
[175] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



No one will employ him in his way ; he can- 
not work in theirs, if he thereby involve his 
conscience. He is so resolved in this matter 
that I believe he will starve and freeze before 
he will sacrifice principle to comfort. In this, 
I and my children are necessarily implicated : 
we make and mean to make all the sacrifices 
we can to sustain him, but we have less to 
sustain us in the spirit, and therefore, are 
more Hable to be overcome of the flesh. 
He has, for a long time gone without every- 
thing which he could not produce by labor, 
from his own place, that no one could in 
truth reproach him with wantonly eating 
of the fruits of another's labor. 

He was sent for by friends in Hingham to 
talk with them ; which he did two evenings ; 
his expenses were paid and $23. put into his 

hands as a slight compensation for the benefit 
[176] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 



they felt he had conferred upon them by his 
conversations. I should like to copy the 
note accompanying it, but you never care 
to see how his fellow fanatics rave on these 
holy themes, life, duty, destiny of man. 
Thus he occasionally finds a market for his 
thoughts and experiences, which, though 
inadequate to our support, is richly prized 
as the honest gains of an innocent and 
righteous labor. You spoke of his " poetical 
wardrobe" whether in satire or in a worthier 
spirit, I cannot tell. However spiritual 
he may have become, there is still enough of 
the carnal to feel the chills of winter, and 
the chiller blasts of satire. His tatters are 
the rags of righteousness and keep him 
warmer than they would anyone whose 
spirit was less cheered and warmed by the 
fires of eternal love and truth. 
[177] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

An appreciative account of Mr. Alcott's 
famous school in the Masonic Temple, 
Boston, is found in the "Record of a 
School," edited by Elizabeth Peabody, 
published in 1835, republished in 1874. 
The "Conversations with Children on 
the Gospels," edited by Mr. Alcott in 
two volumes, appearing in 1 836-1837, 
caused such a commotion in Boston as 
to result in the downfall of the Temple 
School. Reading these conversations 
to-day, one is impressed with the modern 
quality of their thought. They were 
forerunners of that higher criticism, 
which with the Bible student now sup- 
plants the old blind acceptance without 
reflection of even obscure Biblical pas- 
sages. 

I178I 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

On philosophy and reUgion Mr. Alcott 
and Miss Peabody delighted to talk and 
write. Their discussion of the existence 
of evil is startlingly modern. 

"I do not think that evil should be 
clothed in form by the imagination," 
writes Miss Peabody to Mr. Alcott ; 
**I think every effort should be made to 
strip it of all individuality, all shaping 
and all coloring. And the reason is, 
that Evil has in truth no substantial 
existence, that it acquires all the existence 
it has from want of faith and soul culti- 
vation, and that this is sufficient reason 
why all cultivation should be directed 
to give positiveness, coloring, shaping^ 
to all kinds of good — Good only being 

eternal truth." 

[179] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

In reply, the philosopher thus com- 
ments in his diary: "Evil has no posi- 
tive existence, I agree with Miss Pea- 
body, but it has usurped a positive place 
and being in the popular imagination, 
and by the imagination must it be made 
to flee away into its negative life. How 
shall this be done ? By shadowing forth 
in vivid colors the absolute beauty and 
phenomena of good, by assuming evil 
not as positive, but as negative.'* 

"I shall always love you for loving 
Alcott," writes Emerson to his school- 
mate and lifelong friend, the Reverend 
W. H. Furness. *'He is a great man, 
the god with the herdsman of Admetus. 
His conversation is sublime ; yet when 

I see how he is underestimated by culti- 
[i8o] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

vated people, I fancy none but I have 
heard him talk." 

In the midst of slander and petty per- 
secutions, Alcott writes in his diary for 
April, 1837: 

I have been striving to apprehend the 

real in the seeming, to strip ideas of their 

adventitious phrases and behold them in 

their order and powers. I have sought to 

penetrate the showy terrestrial to find the 

heavenly things. I have tried to translate 

into ideas the language and images of spirit, 

and thus to read God in his works. The 

outward I have seen as the visage and type 

of the inward. Ever doth this same nature 

double its design and stand forth — now 

before the inner, now before the outer sense 

of man, at once substance and form, image 
[181] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

and idea, so that God shall never slip wholly 
from the consciousness of the soul. 

Emerson, weary of seeing his friend 
misunderstood, urges him to give up 
teaching and become an author, pictur- 
ing as his golden view for Alcott that 
one day he will leave the impracticable 
world to wag its own way, sit apart, and 
write his oracles for its behoof. 

"Write ! let them hear or let them 
forbear," he thunders. "The written 
word abides until, slowly and unex- 
pectedly, and in widely sundered places, 
it has created its own church." 

The unreality of evil, as taught and 
believed by Alcott nearly a century ago, 
laughed and scoffed at then, was twenty- 
five years later practically the founda- 
[182] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

tion of a belief which gained its first 
foothold in New England, and, with 
headquarters in Boston, has spread, until 
to-day its followers and churches circle 
the civilized globe — a new-old religion, 
based on the literal acceptance of the 
teachings of Christ. What to-day is 
called metaphysical teaching was in the 
Alcott period scoffed at as Transcen- 
dentalism. 

Mr. Alcott's strict adherence to a 
vegetarian diet was also the topic of 
ridicule from public and press, although 
the Alcott children seemed to thrive on it, 
and certainly, as four-year-old Louisa 
once remarked, "Did pitty well for a 
wegetable diet." 

Louisa, in her journal, gives this sample 

[183] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 



of the vegetarian wafers they had at 
Fruitlands : 



Pluck your 
body from 
the orchard ; 
do not snatch 
it from the 
shamble. 



Without flesh 



Vegetable 
diet and 
sweet repose. 
Animal food 
and night- 
mare. 

AppoUo eats no 
flesh and has no 
beard ; his voice is 
melody itself. 

Bronson Alcott constantly sought self- 
improvement, and the shortcomings of 
his early education were more than offset 
by his untiring study. Realizing at one 
time his lack of a vocabulary, he com- 
ments in his journal, that to rectify this 
[184] 



diet there 
could be no 
blood-shed- 
ding war. 

SnufF is no less snufF 
though accepted 
from a gold box. 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

he has just bought two books, "A Sym- 
posium of Melancholy," and "Hunter 
on the Blood." 

In their memoirs of Bronson Alcott, 
F. B. Sanborn and W. T. Harris have 
thus summed up his character : *'He was 
the most filial son, the most faithful 
lover, the most attached friend, the 
most generous philanthropist of his time. 
And when he died, he left fewer enemies 
than any man of equal age can have 
provoked or encountered in so long a 
career." 

In his study of childhood, Mr. Alcott 
sought first to reach the mind, recogniz- 
ing that as "the God within us." He 
encouraged individuality in his children, 

trying in their earliest years to make 
[185] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

them think for themselves. All through 
his teaching runs the boy's friendship 
with God, and his sense of oneness with 
his Maker was a part of the divine heri- 
tage he passed on to his daughters. 

He records in his diary a conversation 
with Anna, who was four, and Louisa, 
who was two, after reading to them the 
story of Jesus, which he made so vital 
that, given their choice, they asked for 
it in preference to a fairy tale. Anna 
remarked that Jesus did not really die. 
*'They killed his body, but not his soul.'* 
Her father asked: "What is the soul, 
Anna ?" The little four-year-old re- 
plied : "It's this inside of me that 
makes me feel and think and love." 

"And," said the father, "what became of 

fi861 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

Jesus' soul?" Anna replied: "It went 
back to God." Whereat little two-year- 
old Louisa asked: "Why, isn't Dod 
inside of me ?" 

A note in the father's diary at the 
birth of Elizabeth records "Anna's first 
interview with her sister" (Elizabeth a 
few hours old), and a day later comes 
this record : "Anna and Louisa inter- 
view their sister." Louisa, two years 
old, wishes to have the baby sister put 
in her arms, when four-year-old Anna 
says warningly : "Treat her very care- 
fully, Louisa, she comes from God." 
What a beautiful thought to give a child 
of the divine mystery of birth ! 

Instead of asserting what he intended 

to make of his children, Alcott encour- 

[187I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

aged the child to make itself, beginning 
when it was a small baby, treating it as 
an individual, giving it opportunity to 
use its mentality, instilling principles of 
right and wrong by suggestion. Alcott 
never commanded. "You don't wish 
to do that," was his way, not exacting 
blind obedience, but expressing his con- 
viction that the child wished to do right. 

To him, God was love. He had no 
fear of God, for perfect love had cast out 
fear. This same spirit was manifested 
in all his children. To them the change 
called Death was not to be dreaded ; 
it was a stepping forward and upward. 

This thought that death is not the 
end, but the beginning, is expressed in 
one of Louisa's most beautiful poems : 

[i88] 



friendships and beliefs 

Thoreau's Flute 

We sighing said, "Our Pan is dead ; 

His pipe hangs mute beside the river. 
Around it wistful sunbeams quiver, 

And Music's airy voice is fled. 
Spring mourns as for untimely frost ; 

The bluebird chants a requiem ; 
The willow-blossom waits for him ; — 

The Genius of the wood is lost." 

Then from the flute, untouched by hands, 
There came a low, harmonious breath ; 

"For such as he there is no death — 
His Hfe the eternal Hfe commands ; 

Above man's aims his nature rose. 
The wisdom of a just content 

Made one small spot a continent 

And tuned to poetry Hfe's prose. 
[189] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

" Haunting the hills, the stream, the wild, 
Swallow and aster, lake and pine, 
To him grew human or divine, — 

Fit mates for this large-hearted child. 
Such homage Nature ne'er forgets, 
And yearly on the coverlid 

'Neath which her darling lieth hid 
Will write his name in violets. 

"To him no vain regrets belong, 

Whose soul, that finer instrument, 
Gave to the world no poor lament. 

But wood-notes ever sweet and strong. 
O lonely friend ! he still will be 

A potent presence, though unseen ; — 
Steadfast, sagacious and serene; 

Seek not for him — he is with thee." 

A visit to Sleepy Hollow^ suggests life, 

not death. Giant trees stretch their 

[190] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

branches over marble and granite monu- 
ments, as if in benediction. "There is 
no death, for God is Hfe," they seem to 
say. For them there is no death. Emer- 
son Hves to-day, the great philosopher ; 
so do Thoreau, Hawthorne, Bronson 
Alcott, and others of that mighty com- 
pany. And who shall say that Louisa 
Alcott is dead ? She lives in the hearts 
of thousands, and will go on living 
through the love they bear her. 

Bronson Alcott was a true disciple of 
Jesus Christ. He lived the example 
set by his Master not alone in words 
and thoughts, but in deeds. He lived 
through and beyond misunderstanding, 
ridicule, poverty, to see his teachings 

respected, his name honored, to see the 

1 191] 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

first glimmer of the new light which was 
beginning to break over the world, the 
sunrise at his own sunset. 

This thought is embodied in the last 
poem Louisa Alcott ever wrote : 

To my Father. 
On his Eighty-Sixth Birthday. 

Dear Pilgrim, waiting patiently. 

The long, long journey nearly done, 
Beside the sacred stream that flows 

Clear shining in the western sun ; 
Look backward on the varied road 

Your steadfast feet have trod, 
From youth to age, through weal and woe, 

Climbing forever nearer God. 

Mountain and valley lie behind ; 

The slough is crossed, the wicket passed ; 
1 192] 



FRIENDSHIPS AND BELIEFS 

Doubt and despair, sorrow and sin, 
Giant and fiend, conquered at last. 

Neglect is changed to honor now. 
The heavy cross may be laid down ; 

The white head wins and wears at length 
The prophet's, not the martyr's crown. 

Greatheart and Faithful gone before, 

Brave Christiana, Mercy sweet, 
Are shining ones who stand and wait 

The weary wanderer to greet. 
Patience and Love his handmaids are, 

And till time brings release. 
Christian may rest in that bright room 

Whose windows open to the east. 

The staff set by, the sandals off, 

Still pondering the precious scroll, 
Serene and strong he waits the call 
[193I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

That frees and wings a happy soul. 
Then beautiful as when it lured, 

The boy's aspiring eyes, 
Before the pilgrim's longing sight, 

Shall the Celestial City rise. 



1 194 J 



CHRONOLOGY 

It has been particularly the aim of the 
editors to lift these Little Women Letters 
out of the biographical and into the narrative 
class. For this reason dates have not been 
used with any degree of liberality, and 
chronological facts have been minimized. 

However, as this is a story of the Alcott 
family, and seekers for definite data will not 
be lacking, a chronological summary is 
herewith furnished : 

Amos Bronson Alcott . . 1799-1888 
married 

Abby May 1800-1877 

Their Children 

Anna Bronson 1831-1893 

Louisa May 1832-1888 

I195I 



LETTERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALCOTT 

Elizabeth 183 5-1 858 

Abby May 1 840-1 879 

Anna Bronson married John Bridge Pratt, 
i860. 

Their Children 
Frederick Alcott .... 1 863-1910 
John Sewall 1865 

Abby May married Ernst Nieriker, March, 

1878. 

Children 

Louisa May 1879 

Frederick Alcott Pratt 

married 

Jessica Cate 

February, 1888 

Their Children 

Bronson Alcott .... 1889 

Elizabeth Sewall .... 1891 
[196 J 



CHRONOLOGY 



Louisa May 1900 

Frederick Woolsey . . . 1902 

Elizabeth Sewall married Alfred RedReld 
June, 191 3 

* John Sewall Pratt 

married 

Eunie May Hunting 

January, 1909 

Children 

Elverton Hunting 

Louisa May Nieriker . . 1878 

married 

Ernst Rasim 

Children 

Ernestine 

* John Sewall Pratt adopted in 1888 by Louisa May Alcott 
and name changed to John Sewall Pratt Alcott. 
1197] 







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